Colliding Worlds
by ReynaHatake
Summary: While chasing a rogue ninja Team Kakashi ends up in Feudal Japan! Before leaving they must find and stop their enemy; join up with Inuyasha along the way. Rated T for now, may change later. Kakashi/OC, Inuyasha/Kagome, Miroku/Sango eventually
1. Nighttime Trap

**A/N: Okay, so this is my first attempt at a crossover with Naruto and Inuyasha. We'll see how it goes! I only own my OC Reyna who appears in nearly everything I write that is Naruto related! The rest is property of the shows' creators! Chapter One is Naruto only! Enjoy…**

**NIGHTTIME TRAP**

Naruto Uzumaki settled more comfortably in the branch of the tree he was currently lounging in. Kakashi had given his team a day off to recover after their last mission, though Naruto thought that it had more to do with the fact that he wanted to spend some time with Reyna after she was released from the hospital. He shrugged not willing to question a quiet day for a change of pace. He had already spent the morning training and now he found that he was content to relax.

"Naruto!" his quiet relaxing was interrupted by Sakura's voice under his tree.

He swung down out of his perch and stood grinning before her, "Hey, Sakura what are you doing out here?"

"Looking for you, you knucklehead. Lady Tsunade needs to talk to us right away!" Sakura snapped before grabbing his arm and pulling him along behind her until he found his feet and met her pace.

"Alright, I'm coming already. Do you know what's going on that she needs us?" he questioned.

Sakura shook her head, "No idea, all I know is that she sent me to find you and an ANBU to get Reyna- and Kakashi-Sensei."

Naruto shrugged, keeping pace beside his friend and teammate as they headed through the village and to the Hokage's office. He was really glad that he wasn't the one who had been sent to get the two Jounin. In fact, he found himself feeling a little sorry for the poor ANBU that had been given that particular assignment.

While Naruto was stretched out and relaxing in his tree, Reyna was curled up on Kakashi's couch, a book in hand though it was not one of Jiraiya's. She had her legs stretched out on the coffee table in front of her and Kakashi was reading as well, his head on her lap. As she read, Reyna was absently playing with his hair, at least until there was a heavy knock on the door and Kakashi sighed before pushing himself to his feet to answer it.

He pulled the door open to reveal a masked ANBU and he raised a questioning brow at him even as he spoke, "What's wrong?"

"Lady Tsunade needs to speak with both you and Reyna immediately. Sakura is collecting Naruto as we speak," the ANBU replied even as Reyna stepped in behind Kakashi and tilted her head to the side.

"Do you know why?" she questioned.

"No, I was sent only to bring you back to the Hokage's office immediately."

Reyna nodded, dropping her book on a shelf by the door while Kakashi stowed his on his person. They both fell in step behind the ANBU as he lead them towards the Hokage's office, both of them wondering what could warrant her having to send an ANBU to collect them. The masked ninja disappeared as soon as they reached the Hokage's tower and Kakashi and Reyna immediately headed up and into Tsunade's office. Tsunade was waiting for them, seated behind her desk with Shizune standing to her left. Naruto and Sakura turned around to greet their teammates but before they could utter a single word, Tsunade spoke first.

"Good, now that you're all here I can explain why. Recently there has been some concern about a small group of rogue mercenary ninja and their activities. They have attacked half a dozen of the smaller villages, but what they're after we have been unable to determine. I want you to track down this group, identify as many as you can and find out what it is that they want. This is an A-Rank to S-Rank mission so be on your guard," she stated.

"If it's such a high ranked mission, why are you sending us out, Lady Tsunade?" Sakura asked.

"Because you are the best equipped team to deal with unknown threats; Reyna can tell before anyone else if there is someone approaching, Kakashi can read any attack, you are there as a medical ninja should the need arise and Naruto has chakra levels that are beyond compare. If I could spare a team of Jounin or a team of ANBU I would, but as it stands I cannot. There are two Jounin on this mission and that is all I can send out for an unknown threat at the moment."

"Don't worry, Grandma! They don't stand a chance against us! We'll have that information in no time flat," Naruto stated enthusiastically.

Kakashi sighed and shook his head at his student, "We'll see what we can find. Where was their last known location?"

"On the border of the Land of Lightning; the ANBU that brought back the information I just gave you managed to get a piece of clothing, so Reyna you'll have one reference scent at least."

Reyna nodded, "Of course and if I can get more I will. Anything else we need to know?"

Tsunade shook her head and Shizune handed Reyna a scrap of cloth in a sealed bag, "Hopefully the scent hasn't been too badly contaminated."

Reyna shrugged, "It shouldn't be. I can take this with us? It'd be helpful if I can reference it from time to time for a while."

Tsunade nodded, "Of course. I want your team ready to go and out of the village in two hours, Kakashi."

He nodded, "We'll be ready. Alright guys, let's get what we need and head out."

The group headed out of Tsunade's office quickly and separated once they reached the street to head for their respective homes in order to stock up on what they'd need for their mission. Reyna and Kakashi walked back to his apartment and set to work double checking the packs that they both always had ready to go since it wasn't unusual for either of them to be called out on last minute missions. Once they were sure they had what they needed, the two of them headed for the main gates to await their teammates before the group set out for the Land of Lightning.

They travelled quickly and only took necessary breaks on their trip. Reyna did not want to risk losing a trail that was already cold. Once they reached the last known location of their adversaries, Team Kakashi regrouped just outside of a small village. Reyna shifted to her wolf form and did a quick sweep around the perimeter of the village, catching only the faintest scent that belonged to the unknown ninja they were tracking. She reported back to the team within half an hour, shifting back to her human self when she reached them.

"So they have quite a head start on us them," Kakashi muttered after Reyna reported her findings.

"What do we do then, Kakashi-Sensei?" Sakura asked.

"We'll track them for as long as we can and if that doesn't work for us, we'll come back to the village and see what information the citizens can give us. What did the village look like anyway, Reyna?" he turned his gaze on the other Jounin.

"Trashed. There's not a whole lot left of the village, but the citizens are starting to rebuild. It looks like they went after the market areas," she responded, lifting her head at the sound of approaching footfalls. "We have company, coming in from the direction of the village. Heavy footfalls, so most likely a civilian."

Kakashi nodded and the four of them stood and turned towards their unexpected guest who appeared a few seconds later, "I thought there was someone out here. What the hell are Leaf Ninja doing here?"

"We're here looking into the attack on your village," Kakashi responded as his team stood around him.

"Well if you're thinking you're going to find any supplies here, you're outta luck. Might as well just keep moving," he snapped in response and Reyna bit back a growl.

"We are, we just stopped to regroup and choose a next course of action," Kakashi smoothed over, picking up the tense body language from Reyna and wanting to get moving as soon as they could again.

"Good, then go!"

Kakashi shook his head and motioned for his team to move out. As one, the four of them leapt into the trees above them and followed Reyna's lead as she headed off in the same direction the scent had lead. She supposed she couldn't blame their visitor for his hostility and fear, but it continued to bother her as she lead the group away from the village and deeper into the Land of Lightning.

When dark fell, Kakashi called a halt to their chase and they fell into the regular routine of setting up camp for the night. Sakura set genjutsu traps around the small clearing they had chosen while Kakashi made a quick sweep of the immediate area for any signs of others. Naruto started a small fire and Reyna rolled out bedrolls. They sat in silence, staring into the fire for a while that night before Naruto, Sakura and Reyna curled into their bedrolls and left Kakashi to take the first watch.

It was only a few hours later that Reyna sat bolt upright, amber eyes searching the night around her as she very slowly got to her feet, crouching in her bedroll. Kakashi's scent drifted to her on the wind, but there was nothing unusual in it so she ignored it, trying to figure out what had pulled her out of sleep. No new scents or sounds carried on the slight breeze to her, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was out there; watching and waiting.

Kakashi was settled in a tree overlooking their small camp and so when Reyna bolted upright, he too sat up, tensing immediately. It wasn't very often the wolf moved like that and turned predatory in the blink of an eye but when she did there was always a reason for it. Now he watched as she searched the dark, knowing her eyesight was a hell of a lot better in the dark than his and when she didn't move he dropped down from his perch. She didn't even flicker a glance in his direction even though he knew that she had heard him; she remained perfectly still, ready to move in any direction at any moment.

"Reyna?" his voice was pitched so low that he knew only she would hear him.

She merely held up a hand for him to be quiet for a few more minutes while she continued to try to find the source of her unease. He remained where he was, not wanting to interfere with her senses, though he too was on high alert and listening for any sound that didn't belong in the quiet night. Reyna was moving a fraction of a second before Sakura sat bolt upright as well as her genjutsu traps were broken. Instantly the group was moving, including Naruto after Sakura smacked him in the side of the head.

Kunai appeared in everyone's hands except Reyna's. She would rely on her shadow techniques for the moment since she was surrounded by them. When still nothing happened, the group remained tense and at Kakashi order started to wrap up their camp. He took over for Reyna who was pacing the camp, amber eyes blazing against the renewed fire as she searched the darkness beyond with every sense she had. Kakashi stepped up beside her, handing her a pack which she took automatically, her gaze still trained on the darkness. He could tell the second she finally picked something up as she tensed and froze, her head snapping to the left, a snarl forming on her lips.

"He's running," she muttered, finally looking over at Kakashi.

"Move it! Naruto, Sakura!" he snapped and the two younger ninja slung packs over their backs and in a matter of seconds the four of them were in pursuit of their quarry with Reyna once again in the lead.

Reyna knew the second that it happened that they should never have chased an unknown enemy in the dead of night. However it wasn't just the four of them that it was going to affect. She skidded to a halt, already knowing it was too late as the air around the Leaf Ninja and the person they were pursuing sizzled. Growling and trying not to inhale the strange scent that was threatening to overwhelm her, her hands blurred as she frantically performed the seals for her Shadow Shield Dome while she spun back towards her teammates, arms out as she pulled them down with her and under what protection she could create. The air around them seemed to thicken, making it nearly impossible for them to breathe even as Reyna choked on the barrage of strange and unknown scents assaulting her.

It only lasted a few seconds, but for the small group of ninja it had seemed like a lifetime. Reyna was still reeling at the barrage of scents she had never before encountered, but the rest of her team recovered as soon as the air returned to normal. She managed to shake off her unease enough to release her technique and the four of them blinked at the bright sunlight that filtered through the trees around them.

"What the hell?" Naruto muttered, looking around him at the unfamiliar terrain and trees.

"What happened?" Sakura asked a second later as she too took in the area around them, the entire team on their guard now that they found themselves in unknown territory.

"He got caught in it too…but I can't filter his scent out with everything else," Reyna muttered, sounding almost apologetic at her inability to identify anything.

"Don't worry about it. Let's just figure out where we are first," Kakashi laid a hand on her shoulder, though she could tell he was just as worried as the rest of them considering what had just happened.

Reyna nodded and slowly the group pushed themselves to their feet, "Any idea which way to walk? And why the hell is it suddenly daylight. Now I have a headache on top of everything."

Kakashi chuckled and shrugged, "Guess we pick a direction. As far as the daylight? I have no idea, I'm sure we'll understand that as soon as we figure out what exactly happened."

"Why don't I just summon on of my toads? They'll get us home no problem!" Naruto exclaimed but Kakashi shook his head.

"I'll summon Pakkun as soon as we have some kind of information so that the Hokage knows we're at least alright and are still on mission. However, if we have ended up somewhere else in some other world we can't very well just leave a rogue ninja with even half the power that we know that this guy has here. We may as well just serve a death warrant to every living soul in…wherever it is that we are," he explained, meeting Naruto's eye.

Naruto nodded, as did Sakura, "Yeah, guess I never really thought about it that way."

"And I, for one, would like to at least find out where we ended up…and how…before I head home. At least that way if this happens again another team will have some idea as to what to expect," Reyna added.

"So which way?" Sakura asked again.

Reyna scented the light breeze and sneezed at the barrage of unknown scents, "Well, the only scent I'm recognizing right now is water and smoke. Smoke usually means a fire so I would think we head that way."

Reyna pointed to her right and glanced at Kakashi who nodded, "That's about as good of a plan as we're going to come up with right now. Until we know more we're just going to have to improvise and survive. If we find a village, best behaviour from everyone and we tell them nothing about where we come from or what we can do. The last thing we need is to start a panic and have to flee or fight. If they recognize our headbands, perfect; otherwise absolutely no chakra use unless absolutely necessary."

"What about the vast numbers of weapons we're all carrying?" Reyna asked.

"Damn…well we'll just explain that we're warriors from a distant land. If they don't buy that then we leave. Understood?"

The other three nodded and the group slowly started to walk in the direction Reyna had indicated she had picked up the scent of smoke. At best they'd find a village and get some answers, at worst they were walking into the very beginnings of a forest fire. Either way, they had made their choice and they were going to see it through.

**A/N: Alright, first chapter done finally! Not sure how well this is going to work out, but there it is anyway. Click the link below, leave a review and feed my muse so I can continue to have strange ideas of things to get fictitious characters into.**


	2. Bad First Impressions

**A/N:** **Thanks for the reviews guys! As always I only own my OC Reyna, everything else belongs to the original creators!**

**BAD FIRST IMPRESSIONS**

Inuyasha headed away from the village in the direction of the Bone Eater's Well since Kagome was due back today and if she didn't show he was determined to drag her back kicking and screaming if all else failed. He padded through the lush summer grass, one hand on the hilt of Tetsigua. He was half way to his destination when an unfamiliar scent reached his nose and he sniffed the air again.

_Correction; four unfamiliar scents_, he corrected himself mentally before he veered off his course to investigate. They didn't smell like demons, in fact two smelled completely human but the other two…he just couldn't place what they smelled like and they were close to where Kagome was going to appear soon. He wasn't about to let any kind of unknown possible threat near her.

He picked up his pace and within a few minutes he caught his first real glimpse of the four people that were walking through the trees ahead of him as he crouched behind a large tree and watched. He puzzled over their appearances and tilted his head to the side slightly as he gripped the hilt of his sword a little tighter now. For the most part they seemed non-threatening, but he knew better than to trust that. He studied the youngest female of the group; bright pink hair that reminded him of the color of cherry blossoms wearing a short skirt with shorts underneath it. Walking beside was a blonde boy wearing a bright orange jumpsuit with a bit of black and he was talking a mile a minute as he bounded along beside her. Behind them can the two adults of the group, one male and one female. They were dressed almost identically with green vests, long sleeved blue shirts and blue pants. The platinum haired male, however, wore a black face mask and black fingerless gloves with his left eye was covered by a headband that they all had in common tied around their foreheads and he was reading some sort of book. The female had caramel colored hair and seemed to the most cautious of the group. They all had a hip pouch, wrapped legs and some sort of pouch on their right thigh.

Inuyasha glared and growled under his breath as the breeze blew their scents in his face again and he launched out from behind his tree to stand before them, the entire group stopping short, though the two adults seemed unsurprised by his sudden appearance. He struck his most intimidating pose yet all four of them simply stared at him not so much as flinching at him.

"Who the hell are you people and where are you going?" he snapped finally.

"Well, I'm Kakashi Hatake," the platinum haired one spoke, "and beside me is Reyna Tagisha. The hyperactive blonde is Naruto Uzumaki and finally Sakura Haruno. As for where we're going…we don't really know at the moment."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, "Yeah, sure you have no idea where you're going. Right like I'm going to buy that one!"

Reyna snarled as he unsheathed his sword and Kakashi laid a hand on her shoulder as he spoke again, "I assure you, that is the truth."

"No offense but you're assurance doesn't count for anything," Inuyasha intoned, glaring at the group still, his gaze flickering from one face to the next; green eyes, to blue, to grey and finally to golden.

He paused momentarily, pondering over the color of Reyna's eyes and finally one of the scents registered in his mind. She was a wolf, probably one of the wolf demons pack. Inuyasha growled and that was all the warning the four were given before he charged forth, sword held high. He figured he'd have no issues with those four, but as he approached them, intending to attack they suddenly weren't standing where they had been a second earlier and he spun. They stayed grouped together and he charged again only to have the same outcome.

Using his claws he tore through his own forearm and spun back towards them, "Blades of Blood!"

This time they didn't have enough time to dodge, though the wolf took the brunt of the attack and raised her head snarling at him even as Kakashi told her to calm down and they weren't there to fight. She hesitated, not backing down but also not attacking which gave Inuyasha enough of an opening to launch another attack at her. He focused on her, deciding she was the biggest threat to him, but as he swung his sword at her body, she reacted. A small knife appeared in her hand from seemingly nowhere and the clang of steel on steel rang through the trees as she turned and faced him head on now.

"What do you think you're going to be able to do with that little thing?" Inuyasha mocked and she growled again.

Something about the scent of her new opponent put her on edge even more than she already had been and she was having issues controlling her own wolf side that was fighting to be released in order to protect her pack. Still she held it in check, refusing to use anything other than a good solid kunai to defend herself and her team. Kakashi managed to keep Naruto and Sakura out of it, deciding that since this person hadn't recognized them as ninja that they were a long way from home and he didn't need any more issues than the one he was trying to deal with at the moment with Reyna. He knew that as long as this person continued to attack, Reyna would not back down so he focused on making sure she maintained her control.

As the two fought, they gradually made their way through the trees and Inuyasha growled when he realized they were getting closer and closer to the well. It didn't seem to matter what he through at the woman she either dodged it or parried the attack. She was quick and agile, easily springing several feet away in one direction and before he thought she should have enough balance to move she was leaping back towards him. Despite the difference in the size of their weapons he had barely even scratched her with the sword, most of the wounds on her having come from his initial attack with Blades of Blood.

Kagome slowly crawled up and out of the well, expecting to see Inuyasha waiting impatiently for her to return. She sighed when she realized that no one had come to meet her, not even Shippo. Shaking her head, she hefted her bulging backpack onto her shoulders and started off in the direction of the village when the sound of metal meeting metal reached her ears and she paused. She was unarmed, her bow and arrows back in the village with Kaede. She stumbled back when a young woman leapt into the clearing from the trees, weapon in hand, though she wasn't even looking towards Kagome.

"Kakashi! Get the girl behind me out of the way!" the woman hollered and before Kagome realized she had been talking about her, she was surrounded by three other strangers.

"Hi, I'm Naruto and you really don't want to be standing her in about thirty seconds unless you want Reyna to land on top of you," a blonde around her age smiled at her before taking hold of her arm and pulling her out of the way.

True to his words a few seconds later the woman landed in the exact spot that Kagome at been standing in and Kagome stood staring open mouthed as Inuyasha appeared from the trees, sword swinging at the woman. As Reyna parried another blow from the sword Kagome suddenly realized that the sound of clanging metal had been this fight.

"Inuyasha! What are you doing?" she exclaimed, dropping her pack and trying to step away from the three surrounding her, but Naruto stopped her.

"You don't want to get between them. Reyna wouldn't hurt you intentionally but right now she's a little preoccupied with trying not to have her head removed from her shoulders," the masked man behind her spoke.

"Apparently your friend thinks we're a threat," the pink haired girl on her other side added.

"Are you?" Kagome asked the three while Inuyasha and Reyna continued to fight and Kagome watched as the young woman moved with a grace and agility that she had never witnessed before; even Sango and Miruko who had spent years hunting demons couldn't move like she did.

"No, not at all; in fact we're actually a bit lost at the moment," the man behind her spoke again and she glanced her shoulder at him.

"Well, in that case…Inuyasha! Sit, Boy!" Kagome called out and with a slightly strangled yell Inuyasha was yanked to the ground by the prayer beads around his neck.

"Damn it, Kagome!" he hollered at her but she only smiled.

"I'm sorry if Inuyasha was a bit of jerk; that's just him. I'm Kagome," she smiled at the group and Reyna turned towards her though she kept her kunai out, a wary eye on her former opponent should he decide to attack again.

"I am Kakashi, this is Naruto, Sakura and Reyna," the silver hair man explained.

"Well, that's Inuyasha and Sango, Miroku and Shippo are probably all at the village. Is that where you were heading when he attacked you?" Kagome asked.

"Hey, they're the ones claiming they didn't know where they were going and smell funny," Inuyasha interrupted and Reyna turned a glare on him.

"_We_ smell funny? Have you gotten a good whiff of yourself lately?" she growled and Kakashi stepped around Kagome to lay a hand on her shoulder, tightening his grip enough that it hurt enough to draw Reyna's attention to him again.

"Enough, Reyna," he muttered and she sighed before stepping back and finally replacing the kunai. "In all honesty, Kagome we picked a random direction and started to walk. We have no idea where we are."

"Oh, well in that case, you should come back to the village with us. Don't worry about Inuyasha, he'll behave."

"Huh," Inuyasha huffed from where he was finally regaining his feet. "Just don't run to me to save your ass when they attack the village, Kagome."

"I don't think they're going to do that, now come on or you aren't going to get any of the instant ramen I brought. I'll give it all to the others," Kagome threatened as she reached for her backpack again.

"Ramen?" Naruto practically drooled. "You have ramen?"

Kagome nodded and Sakura giggled, "I think you have a friend for life now, Kagome."

Kagome laughed and started off for the village once again, Inuyasha fell in step beside her, walking nearly close enough that their shoulders brushed together. Naruto followed close behind, quizzing Kagome on exactly what kind of ramen she had in that pack of hers and then trying to explain to her just how good Ichiraku was and if he could ever take her there, he would buy her ramen for lunch. Sakura walked next Naruto making sure he didn't get carried away and tell her too much about the Village Hidden in the Leaves and their role within the village. Kakashi and Reyna brought up the rear and he draped an arm around her shoulders as they walked, his book remaining in his pocket this time.

"Relax, Reyna. I'm sure we'll be fine," he muttered in her ear.

"Right, because being in the company of a dog demon will ensure our safety," she muttered in response and he chuckled.

"Do you trust, Kagome based on her scent?" Reyna nodded and he continued. "Then I think we can trust Inuyasha, don't you?"

**A/N: Alright folks, two chapters in one night for this story…I think my mind is officially fried until tomorrow. Until then please review and if you have suggestions or something you wanna see, send them along. I always welcome new ideas and it keeps my muse on her toes!**


	3. Powerful OpponentNew Allies

**A/N: Anything recognized is property of the original creators. I only own my OC Reyna. No copyright infringement intended!**

**POWERFUL OPPONENT/NEW ALLIES**

The small group continued towards the village at a rather leisurely pace. Reyna paused just before they crossed the small bridge over the creek and sniffed the air again before shaking her head. There were so many scents that she couldn't place she had no way of knowing which were the normal scents for the area or if there was anything unusual. Frustrated, she followed the rest of her team and their two guides into the small village. They brought stares from the citizens and Reyna felt herself tensing again although no one else seemed to be letting it bother them. She sighed, trying to ignore the looks and stares but the further they walked into the village, the closer she shifted to Kakashi.

"Relax, Reyna," he muttered softly, glancing over at her.

She shrugged, "That's exactly what I'm trying to do."

He shook his head with a small smile tugging at his lips under his mask, though no one could see it. Ahead of them Reyna heard a child's voice call out Kagome's name and a second later a small boy with fox ears and tail had launched at Kagome who caught him laughing.

"Shippo! How have you been?" she asked even as she dropped him back to the ground.

"We missed you Kagome!" he replied before looking back at the four strangers that appeared to be with Kagome and Inuyasha. "Who are they?"

"Well, they're lost travellers, Shippo. I figured if anyone could help them out, Kaede could."

"They sure are dressed funny. Where are you from?" he asked, stepping up to Naruto who was still beaming his usual smile.

"We're from a very large village called Konaha," Naruto answered and Sakura reached out and slapped him in the back of the head.

"Naruto…" she warned but that was all Naruto told them.

"What? It's not like I said anything other than the name of the village," Naruto whined at his teammate, rubbing the back of his head.

"Why don't you want us to know where you're from, huh?" Inuyasha snapped, turning his gaze on Kakashi and Reyna.

"Well, I've never heard of Konaha before. Maybe Miroku has! He's been a lot of places that the rest of us haven't!" Shippo jumped in.

"Maybe. Hey, why don't you go and get Miroku and Sango and bring them back here?" Kagome asked.

Shippo nodded and bounded away in search of his other friends while Kagome turned back to the rest of them even as Reyna answered Inuyasha's question, "Because we don't need people deciding that attacking our home would be a good plan."

Kakashi sighed and shook his head again, "Reyna, enough; although that is a true enough statement. You are wary of us because you do not know if we are a threat to your home and your friends. Well, while we may not appear to be so, mainly because we have very little choice but to show some trust in you, we are wary of revealing too much about our home for the same reason."

Inuyasha thought that over before he glared and conceded, "I guess that makes sense."

A few minutes later, Shippo returned with a young man and a woman trailing along behind him, "Here they are! See?"

The man, Miroku nodded, "Yes we do. Now where did you say they were from again, Shippo?"

"We're from Konaha," Sakura supplied, eyeing up the new additions to their group.

The robed Miroku carried a staff that she was pretty sure she could bend without any effort. The woman concerned her a bit more. She was dressed for battle with weapons that she'd never seen before. Still they weren't making any kind of hostile actions towards them so for the time being, she was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt though she never once dropped her guard.

"Konaha? I've never heard of it. What part of Japan is it in?" Sango asked and Miroku nodded.

"I've never heard of it either," he supplied and Kakashi sighed.

"Well, then I suppose we are far more lost and stuck than we wanted to be."

"How did you get here that you don't remember how to get home?" Kagome asked, feeling for them as she remembered how it had felt the first time she had found herself in much the same situation; they just appeared to be handling it a lot better than she had.

Inuyasha and Reyna sniffed the air simultaneously and both visibly stiffened. Reyna turned an eye to Kakashi and without a word conveyed that they were most likely in some sort of a dangerous situation that didn't have anything to do with their present company; it was outside the village for the moment but getting closer by the second. Inuyasha huffed and turned to Kagome.

"We need to get these people out of here before they get themselves killed. Just because they're fast and can avoid me doesn't mean they can avoid everything," he muttered, though the ninja heard him.

"Why what's happening?" Sakura asked, immediately ready to go on the offensive.

"Nothing that you need to worry about," Miroku smiled tensely. "Why don't you four go with Shippo and get to safety?"

"Why don't you just go and…" Reyna started, a slight growl in her voice before Kakashi cut her off.

"We are quite capable of defending ourselves and others."

"Reyna-Sensei what's going on?" Naruto asked looking between his teammates and their new acquaintances.

"I'm not entirely sure, all I know is that it's not good and it's getting closer," she informed her teammate and Naruto looked to Kakashi.

"It's a demon," Kagome supplied even as Sango reached for the weapon on her back and Inuyasha gripped his sword. "Look, I'm sure you're great fighters and everything, but this isn't a normal fight."

"You'd be surprised by what we can do," Naruto muttered, still looking to Kakashi for his decision; after all he was the Team Captain so it was his decision as to what they ultimately did.

"For right now, we'll take Shippo and stay clear of the fight. Reyna, no arguments this time but if there is a threat to civilian lives…forget my previous order," Kakashi finally stated and his team moved.

Sakura scooped up an arguing Shippo and the five of them headed away from the village, following Reyna's lead away from whatever it was that was coming at the village. Sango, Miroku, Kagome and Inuyasha headed in the opposite direction, straight for the threat. The Leaf Ninja remained earthbound for the moment, not yet willing to reveal their abilities even to the small Shippo. They didn't move fast nor did they go very far since they wanted to be ready to jump in to aid the village should the need arise. Reyna turned and focused her every sense on following what was happening without actually being able to see much.

The sounds of fighting reached even Sakura's ears as they waited and Shippo paced. Reyna stood tense, her jaw clenched as she listened and waited. It was several minutes later when a very large demon appeared, heading directly for the village with Inuyasha and the others trying to stop it. Reyna turned to Kakashi who nodded.

"Alright, we need a quick plan of action," Kakashi called to his team.

"I can slow it down at the very least with a Shadow Prison," Reyna supplied.

"Good, give the others a chance to get ahead of it. Sakura as soon as Reyna has it pinned down, shake it up a little and once you have it off balance, Naruto you go in with Rasengan. If that doesn't slow it down, Reyna we're going to go with Shadow Chidori. Move fast and stay on your guard. We have no idea the strengths and weaknesses here, but we cannot allow it to reach the village. Beyond that just hurt the damn thing! Let's go!" Kakashi laid out the plan of attack quickly to his team and a second later, Shippo found himself alone as the four ninja leapt away from him.

Reyna had the most difficult and dangerous of the tasks; she ran directly towards the demon, eyes narrowed and snarling. As she approached she slid to a halt, the demon starting to focus on her. A flurry of hand seals later and a barred prison of shadow twisted around the beast and Reyna focused solely on maintaining her chakra flow into those shadows and holding the beast. She was not expecting he beast's power however and every time it struck the shadows, she felt it. She planted her feet, pouring more chakra into her technique and now she not only felt each strike her prison took, she slid a few inches back.

"Damn it, hurry up Sakura," she muttered through a clenched jaw as sweat started to form on her brow from the strain of holding the beast.

As if conjured by Reyna's words, Sakura dropped from a tree a few feet away from the temporarily imprisoned beast. As she dropped she channeled her chakra into her fist and landed, fist first. The earth around her shuddered and cracked, the beast near her stumbling only slightly. The instant she hit the ground, two Naruto's appeared, running full tilt towards the beast. At the last possible second, Reyna released her shadows and Naruto's Rasengan slammed into the demon. It roared and batted the blonde ninja away from itself.

Reyna snarled as Sakura launched forward and grabbed the stunned Naruto, barely getting the two of them out of the way of the demon before it stomped where they had been a second earlier. Reyna glanced to her left as Kakashi stepped up beside her, Chidori already sparking in his hand and she flew through the hand signs they had perfected in order for her shadows to meld and add power to the lightning blade. As Kakashi ran towards the demon, Reyna sent a flurry of shadow weapons at the beast in an effort to distract it.

It worked and Kakashi struck with his technique. Still the demon remained standing, though its focus had shifted from the village to the small group that was now attacking it. As it turned towards Kakashi who was dangerously close to it, Reyna growled and launched at the beast, her hands a blur as she hastily performed the hand seals to erect a shield of shadow around the silver haired ninja. As she attacked and defended at the same instant, Inuyasha and the others burst through the trees in pursuit of the beast.

They paused as they watched the four people they had recently run into defend their village with techniques none of them had witnessed before. They moved perfectly together, a well-oiled team that had no doubt been together for some time based on the way they worked together. They always seemed to know where the others were and what was happened around them. Kagome gasped as Reyna spun, putting her own body between Naruto (who had rejoined the fight after Chidori hadn't worked) and the demon. A hastily erected shield that seemed to be made of shadow appeared between them and before it shattered and dissipated, Naruto and Reyna were safely out of reach.

Kakashi returned to attacking as well, having lifted his headband to reveal his Sharingan. While he attacked from one side and drew the attention of the beast, Sakura attacked from behind it, putting all her strength into a single punch that finally knocked the beast to its knees, at least for a few precious seconds. As Sakura attacked, Naruto created several clones of himself, as did Reyna and finally Kakashi.

One of the Reyna clones jogged over to Inuyasha and his group, "Were you planning on being useful or are you going to stand around and stare all day?"

That got the group moving and they joined the action. Now the team of ninja were far more careful and aware of what was going on around them as the other four joined in. They were used to working as a four man team, not having another team jump in during the middle of a fight. The beast had several clones clinging to its body and both Naruto and Kakashi's clones disappeared in a puff of smoke. Reyna's however, took at least two solid hits before they disappeared, but she had been able to create far fewer than the other two had since she had expended vast amounts of her chakra on her initial Shadow Prison.

Still, she fought on, using the shadows around her to full advantage since it took less chakra to use shadows that were already formed than it did to create her own shadows. Finally, Inuyasha found the opportunity he needed and ended the fight with one final swing of his sword. As the demon fell, Reyna dropped to her knees, her final two clones released as she panted. She had a few wounds that were bleeding, a downside to the power the demon had used against her Shadow Prison but figured she'd still come out looking pretty good considering. Kakashi shook his head as he stepped over to her, the last of his and Naruto's clones also disappearing. Gently he pulled her back to her feet with a hand on her forearm.

"Reyna-Sensei, are you alright?" Sakura asked, walking up to them.

Reyna nodded as Naruto approached as well, "Yeah, I think I'm good. I'm still breathing and standing under my own power. Always a good sign in my book; what about you guys?"

"I'm gonna be sore but you know how fast I heal," Naruto grinned at her.

"I'll be fine too," Sakura answered and Reyna glanced to Kakashi.

"I'm good, thanks to that Shadow Shield of yours," he smiled even as Inuyasha and the others also approached.

"Okay, I think we need a full explanation now," Miroku eyed the four of them up again, viewing them in a new light.

"Agreed. What the hell was that?" Sango asked suspicion in her eyes.

"Right, but first I think we all need to sit down and let Sakura take a look at our wounds," Kakashi agreed.

"Why her? Lady Kaede is the village healer," Inuyasha growled.

"Fine, whatever but I'll look after my team!" Sakura ground out.

"Hey, I think we just proved that we're all on the same side here," Kagome said softly. "We just need to talk and figure things out."

Kakashi nodded again and turned towards the village, "Right, but where do we talk?"

"Right here works just fine for me!" Inuyasha said.

"Alright, here it is then," Kakashi said before motioning to his team who all immediately dropped to the grass and sat cross legged in a half circle facing Inuyasha and the others.

Sakura sat next to Naruto so that she could work on healing the few wounds he had sustained while the talked. Slowly the other four also sat on the grass, facing the Leaf Ninja.

"Alright, let's start with what you guys are," Miroku started.

"We are ninja from the Village Hidden in the Leaves," Kakashi supplied with a sigh.

"Which means?" Sango asked curiously.

"Which means we are trained fighters," Reyna answered.

"How could you do half of that stuff?" Kagome asked.

"We control what we call chakra. It's uses are far beyond what we did here today. We each have our own specialties but there are commonalities between all ninja as far as chakra goes as well. It's hard to explain," Naruto started.

"Okay, so basically you control your own person energy?" Kagome asked again.

Kakashi nodded, "That's as good of an explanation as any."

"How did you get here?" Miroku asked again.

"We really don't know," Kakashi started.

"We were sent out on a mission to find a group of rogue ninja that had been attacking villages and gather intel on them. It seemed like a fairly simple mission; in fact I didn't really know why she had given an A ranking. Anyway, we tracked one of them from their last known location, made camp for the night…which it still should be night…but he was creeping around our campsite. He disabled our traps but that alerted us he was there so we took off in pursuit of him. The next thing we know, we're here and I can almost guarantee he is as well or we wouldn't still be here," Reyna finished.

"So you're here and you're the good guys but there's a bad guy that has the same kind of powers as you guys that you have to find before you can go home?" Kagome summed up.

"Right," Sakura nodded, still working on Naruto's arm where the demon had hit him.

"How the hell are you getting home when you don't even know where you are?" Inuyasha scoffed.

"By summoning a very large toad," Kakashi grinned.

"A toad?" Sango repeated.

"Yep, speaking of summoning, I should summon Pakkun so that he can let Tsunade know what's going on. And I'm pretty sure we're going to need a few more supplies than what we brought," Kakashi muttered.

"Later, for right now though we should get back to the village and make sure everyone there is alright as well," Sakura interrupted.

The entire group nodded, "Yeah we probably really should…"

**A/N: Okay, so not sure if this is working out really well or not, but there it is. Please review and let me know what you thought. **


	4. Decisions

**A/N: Well, apparently people like this so I will try to continue it…as usual I only own my OC Reyna, all else is property of the original authors. Enjoy**

**DECISIONS**

The small group of combatants headed slowly back towards the village where the citizens were slowly starting to emerge from their homes. Again the group of Leaf ninja drew quite a few looks and Reyna forced herself not to respond to the suspicion she was picking up from them. It seemed to ebb away when people realized that the ninja were walking calmly alongside Inuyasha and the others however, which made it easier for her to relax. Kagome led them through the village and to a hut in the middle of it.

"Lady Kaede?" she called out and an old woman appeared in the doorway.

Miroku, who was walking on one side of Reyna while Kakashi was on the other, leaned over and whispered in her ear, "Don't be fooled by her age. Lady Kaede is one tough lady."

Reyna quirked a brow and glanced over at the monk, "Why would you assume that I'd write her off because of her age? I tend to assess people based on other attributes."

Kakashi smirked behind his mask and shook his head as they stopped in front of Kaede while Miroku seemed stunned for a second before he too smiled at her, "Well, that's good to know. It doesn't do anyone any good to underestimate another."

Reyna rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Kaede who was eyeing up the four ninja, "And who are your new friends, Kagome?"

"They're travellers from a very distant land that got trapped here," Kagome replied.

"And they happen to be some of the best fighters I've ever seen," Sango added.

"Who care about the innocent lives that may be in danger," Miroku added.

"And who have powers that I've never seen before in a human or a demon," Inuyasha concluded and Kaede took another hard look at the four.

"These two seem rather young to have such a grasp of power that you claim, or to have such a caring attitude towards those they've never seen."

"We train from a very young age," Sakura acknowledged, "and we care because where we come from the civilian population depends on us to ensure they are safe. Not that we can always manage it, but still."

Kakashi nodded and stepped forward, "We've been a team for quite some time now. Reyna here is actually our newest member, but I have taught Naruto and Sakura since they graduated from the Academy at the age of 11."

"And so you learn to use these powers at this Academy?" Kaede asked.

Reyna nodded, "Among other things, yes. We are also trained in weapons use, hand to hand combat, teamwork and various other things including the history of our village."

"So you do not know of a way to get back to your own home?"

Reyna and Kakashi shared a look before the silver haired man sighed, "We do, but that's not the issue. The problem we have is the fact that we were not the only ones who were transported here, and we don't know what actually brought us here. It could have been some sort of jutsu, but I seriously doubt it. The other person that we know for sure was brought here was a man we were trying to find information on. In our world, he and others like him have attacked and destroyed several villages and we know very little about them."

"And you believe that he is here as well," Kaede added.

Reyna nodded, "I can almost guarantee it, though there was no trace of him where we appeared in your world. He was, however, caught in the technique that brought us here. That I know as an absolute certainty."

"Hmm, and why should I take your word on that?" Kaede asked.

Reyna glanced at Kakashi who shrugged, "You're call."

Reyna sighed and turned her attention to the rest of the group, "I know because I could smell him. The scent was too close to us and the technique extended beyond where his scent was emanating from."

"And you can track by scent, how?" Miroku asked, stepping up closer to her and she stiffened as she turned on him, golden gaze sparkling.

"Because I am part wolf and before you even think to say I'm a demon I'll tell you now that I am not so if anyone says otherwise…"

Kakashi's hand on her shoulder, cut her short, "Look, we're all a little out of our known territory here."

Reyna fell silent and Miroku held his hands up in surrender, "Sorry, sorry, but you have to admit that it was a logical question."

Kagome cleared her throat and all eyes turned to her before she spoke, "Well, since we know our way around here and you four have already more than proven that you can handle yourselves in a fight even if you know nothing about what you're fighting, why don't you come with us when we head out tomorrow? That way we can all kind of help one another out and if this person that you were chasing joins forces with those that we're trying to stop none of us are at a disadvantage."

Inuyasha scoffed but Kakashi was nodding, "That sounds like an excellent idea, Kagome."

Kagome smiled at him and Reyna swallowed a growl even as Kaede spoke, "You won't be able to blend in dressed as you are."

Sakura raised a brow and gestured at Kagome, "And she does?"

Kaede chuckled, "You raise an excellent point child. I'm sure that we can find some sort of suitable lodging for the four of you."

"That won't be necessary, we are well equipped to make a camp of sorts," Kakashi intoned.

"That is your call."

**A/N: Sorry, really short and not my best work…still please review and any ideas as to what should happen next, send them along as well!**


	5. Camp

**A/N: Sorry it's taken so long for me to update anything but I've been super busy lately and haven't had much time to write! Anyway, hopefully you all enjoy this and by now you should know I own nothing but Reyna!**

**CAMP**

The group spent most of the rest of the afternoon talking with Kaede, though Inuyasha still didn't seem willing to accept the four ninja into their group. Over the course of the day, Reyna slowly started to relax, though she wasn't anywhere near comfortable with her new surroundings. Finally as the sun was just beginning to set, the four Leaf ninja headed to an area just outside of the village and set to work building themselves a camp. The villagers that were still out and about as they settled in around their fire that night avoided the area, unsure as to why the group had decided not to simply remain within the village for the night.

"Once the village falls silent and sleeping for the night, I'll summon Pakkun so that he can report to Tsunade for us," Kakashi said quietly to the group.

Naruto and Sakura nodded, but Reyna was less sure about the idea, "I'm not so sure that it would be a good idea this close to the village. Besides, it's not like Tsunade was expecting us back anytime soon. Why not leave it for a day or two and see what we can find out. What's the point of sending a report back when we still don't know anything about those that we're tracking or where we are?"

"She needs to know so that the area we were in can be investigated, Reyna," Kakashi admonished, surprised that she was arguing with him.

Reyna shook her head, "Fine, whatever."

With that muttered she shoved herself to her feet and strode away from the light of their fire, passing Kagome who was on her way to bring them something to eat. She barely acknowledged the girl before she veered away from the village and headed into the falling darkness. Kagome watched her, as did the rest of the ninja before she finally approached the group.

"I thought you'd like something to eat," she smiled at the group and Naruto immediately returned the smile.

"Is it ramen?" he asked excitedly.

Kagome laughed and shook her head, "No, it's a stew that Lady Kaede made. It's really good though."

Grumbling about the lack of ramen, Naruto nonetheless ate what he was given and grudgingly agreed that it was pretty good. Kagome looked worriedly in the direction that Reyna had disappeared and turned her attention to Kakashi.

"She really doesn't seem very happy with anything. Are you sure it's safe to let her wander around alone at night?" she finally asked the senior ninja.

Kakashi shrugged, "If you're worried that she's going to attack the village, don't be because she won't. She's worried about her team and it doesn't matter if she can pick up a scent of someone approaching, she can't distinguish friend from foe here. She doesn't recognize anything and it's making her cranky. She won't go that far from camp, I can guarantee that but there are times when she needs space, even from us."

Kagome nodded, "I kind of know how you all must feel. I got sucked into this world too and had no idea what was happening or where I was or who to trust but I never wanted to let those that I did trust out of my sight for a long time. Even now there are times that it bothers me."

Sakura sighed, "Maybe that works for you, but you didn't have Reyna-Sensei's history either. It's not really our place to tell it, but let's just say that she never had many people she could rely on."

Kakashi chuckled, "Hell, the first time she met me we ended up in a fight. Not that I didn't deserve it, but still. Give it some time, she tends to start out not trusting or even really liking someone and then ends up the best of friends with them. It just takes her some time to warm up to people and get used to the idea."

Kagome laughed, "Well, hopefully she warms up to us! Anyway, I should head back before Inuyasha gets paranoid and comes looking for me thinking you've eaten me or something silly like that. He's another one that takes a long time to get used to having new people around."

Naruto waved as she walked away and turned back to Kakashi, "Really? You and Reyna-Sensei fought the first time you met?"

Kakashi nodded, "Yeah but it was a long time ago and we were both very different people. Sometime, maybe, I'll tell you the story but not now."

Not far off and sitting among the deepening shadows of night, Reyna had listened to every word that had passed and sighed. She knew she was letting her bad temper get the better of her and she hated when she took it out on the few people she did really care for. She knew all too well how sort lives could be cut. Slowly she regained her feet and paced a few feet further away from the camp, golden eyes piercing the falling darkness easily enough and she spotted a figure off a ways. Cautiously she headed towards it, scenting the air as she went, thankful she was downwind of the person. She paused as she filtered out unknown scents and pinpointed who the person was; Miroku.

On silent feet she paced towards him and when she was only a couple of feet away from him she spoke, "What brings you this far from the village, Miroku?"

The monk actually jumped slightly before spinning and spotting only her golden gaze watching him from the darkness, "Do you make a habit of sneaking up on people?"

"And do you make a habit of answering a question with another question?" she intoned, dropping the shadows from around her as she stepped closer, still watching him with a gaze that made him feel like prey.

"I often walk along the river at night after supper. It's peaceful," he answered finally.

She quirked a brow and forced her gaze to soften a little and Miroku breathed a sigh of relief as she did, "Its second nature to move silently. A stray footfall that's heard can mean death."

He shook his head, "True, but here you are among friends."

She rolled her eyes, "That remains to be seen. Don't take it personally, I don't trust people based on their word alone."

"That makes sense but then how does one earn your trust?"

"You want the quick way? Save my teammates without regard to your own safety; otherwise it's a fairly long process. Kakashi and the others trust you all so that helps but it will take time for me to fully trust you."

He nodded, "I think most of us can deal with that. The only one who's really going to get annoyed with it is Inuyasha but then again I don't think you're too worried about him."

She shook her head, "No, not really."

Miroku smiled, "Good, now if you wish to join me, you are more than welcome to do so."

Reyna hesitated as Miroku moved off again, but decided to once again trust her instincts since they had never steered her wrong in the past. Slowly she started off behind him before lengthening her stride and falling in stride beside him. The two walked a while in silence though Reyna kept some distance between the two of them. Miroku smiled to himself at that as they walked and an hour later they were heading back towards the village. Reyna veered off, back to her camp while Miroku continued back to the village.

Back in the ninja camp Kakashi had decided that it had fallen dark enough in the village that he should be able to summon Pakkun so that they could send a message back to the Leaf through him. At least Kakashi was hoping that Pakkun would be able to traverse between the two worlds. Of course the only way they could find out was to call the pug and ask him.

Pakkun appeared in a small puff of white smoke and held up a forepaw, "Yo, Kakashi! Hey, where the hell are we?"

"If we knew that I'm sure Reyna would be a lot happier," Naruto muttered and Pakkun looked over at him.

"Well, at least the team is all here," he muttered, nodding to Naruto and Sakura. "Or at least most of it; where is Reyna?"

"Off walking somewhere to try to clear her head," Kakashi responded and Pakkun looked back to him, "Pakkun, would you be able to get back to the Leaf and deliver a message?"

Pakkun nodded, "Yeah, I can. How in the world did you four managed to travel through dimensions?"

Sakura answered that one, "We don't know. At first we thought it was some kind of jutsu but Reyna-Sensei said she couldn't smell any kind of chakra when we got caught in it. As soon as we find the rogue, Naruto's going to summon a couple of his toads and we'll hitch a ride back that way."

Kakashi nodded, "That's the plan, but first we need to find that rogue and keep him from wreaking havoc in another dimension. We need to you tell Tsunade that we're safe and still on-mission. I'll give you the location where we got trapped in the technique and sent here so that she can have it investigated."

Pakkun nodded and once Kakashi had told him everything that Tsunade would need to know, he disappeared again in another puff of smoke after receiving a promise from Kakashi that he would be kept up to date with what was going on. The group settled back into their bedrolls, each lost in their own thoughts. Naruto was the first to finally fall asleep, followed by Sakura only a few moments before Reyna returned. Kakashi immediately sat up and watched the wolf as she stepped into the light thrown by the slowly dying fire. Reyna glanced over at him and managed a small grin before she dropped down to sit on his right side.

"Are you good now?" Kakashi asked, eyeing her carefully.

Reyna shrugged, "Not entirely, but better. Now if I didn't have you around to kick me down, it might be a different story." She joked lightly and Kakashi sighed.

"Well, at least you seem to be in a better mood now."

She shrugged, "I had a rather enlightening conversation with the monk. Do you happen to have a book with you?"

Kakashi quirked a brow, "You know I do. I brought a couple since we were planning on a long mission. Why?"

"I don't think I'm going to get much sleep tonight, even with you here so I need something to do and since I don't have anything in my pack that's very entertaining other than weapons, I figured I might read awhile instead. Of course if you prefer, I could always go through my scrolls and weapons and try not to freak out the village with it all in the morning. Ooo, or I could dig out my puppet scroll and turn into Kankuro; you know and have a conversation with it?" she grinned.

Kakashi shook his head, "I think I'd rather have you borrow a book. I really don't need to be replaced by a puppet."

"Hey, I have to contend with a book for your attention. It's only fair," she teased in return.

"Here," he muttered, handing her the book out of his hip pouch, "but I want it back."

"Of course," she laughed even as he settled back on the ground to try and get some sleep.

Sleep was long in coming for Kakashi that night, despite the fact that Reyna seemed to be adjusting slowly to their situation. Apparently whatever she had talked to Miroku about had shifted her way of thinking enough that she was at least trying. He would have to remember to thank the monk for the help in that endeavor though he couldn't quite squash the hint of jealousy that reared up when she had told him that she had been talking with Miroku during her departure from the team.

**A/N: Alright, and another chapter is done! I should have them heading out with the Inuyasha group in the next chapter but I had to have a little bit of fun at Kakashi's expense! Hmm, maybe I should have Miroku get his hands on that little orange book of Kakashi's…that would prove interesting! And Koga will make an appearance later as well! Anyway, as always please review and let me know what you think or what you would like to see later on! Now I must be off to try and get another chapter of Naruto Parties done as well!**


	6. Even Naruto Usually Knows What Direction

**A/N: It seems that I just can't manage to get much done on either of my stories! Anyway, here's another and hopefully it works out since I've hit a bit of a brick wall with this! As always, only owning Reyna!**

**EVEN NARUTO USUALLY KNOWS WHAT DIRECTION TO GO**

The following morning, Kakashi's team was up with the sun; or at least most of his team. Reyna had only managed to get a couple of restless hours in the dead of the night when she couldn't read by firelight any longer. Kakashi shook his head at the exhaustion that hung from her eyes, though he was pretty sure that only he noticed it. Not even Sakura said anything about how tired she looked. The team was just debating whether they should head into the village and find Kagome and the others or if they should wait until they came to them when Reyna lifted her head and sniffed the air.

It was easy enough for her to recognize the scent that reached her since it was the only one that she knew other than her own teams', "I think our debate has been answered for us."

Kakashi looked in the direction that Reyna indicated along with Naruto and Sakura and a second later the form of Miroku appeared heading towards them. He raised a hand in greeting as he drew nearer and Naruto energetically waved in response.

"Something about him reminds me of someone but I just can't seem to put my finger on it," Naruto muttered before Miroku reached them.

Reyna shrugged, having gotten that same feeling herself before Miroku spoke, "Good morning everyone. I hope you had a good night's sleep out in the cold night."

"Jeez, dramatic much?" Reyna muttered under her breath and drew a quiet laugh from Kakashi.

"We're quite used to it," Kakashi replied. "I assume you're here to tell us that we're heading out soon?"

"Not quite, no. I thought you all might like some breakfast first and then late in the morning we'll probably head out," Miroku replied, his gaze shifting between Kakashi and Reyna who were standing next to one another but still a good arms length apart.

"Alright; well what are we waiting for? I'm starving," Naruto announced before bounding to his feet.

Sakura also gained her feet and as she did so cuffed Naruto in the side of the head, "Would you knock it off? We're guests here, Naruto; show some respect."

Naruto was rubbing his head, "Did you have to hit me so hard though?"

Miroku laughed while Reyna and Kakashi shared a look and sighed. Naruto and Sakura headed for the village once Miroku told them that they were to meet at Keade's hut. Kakashi and Reyna quickly tore down their make shift camp but it was Miroku who spotted the orange book that Reyna had spent most of the night reading and picked it up.

"What's this?" he asked, stepping up close beside Reyna as he examined the book in his hand.

"A book that Kakashi is addicted to and my teacher wrote. That's the first in the series," Reyna replied, barely even registering the fact that Miroku was standing so close to her that his shoulder brushed hers.

She didn't really realize it until she glanced over and caught Kakashi's stance and the look in his visible eye. She doubted that anyone else would have noticed the difference in the platinum haired man, but she had been around him long enough to pick up the tiny changes in him that told her when he was bothered. The slight tension to his all-too-casual stance, the slightest narrowing of his visible eye and the tension in his jaw beneath his mask all told her something was seriously bothering him. She followed the line of his gaze and finally realized just how close Miroku was to her.

She snagged the book from his hand even as Miroku started to open it, "You really don't want to read that."

"But it looks interesting," Miroku muttered a touch of disappointed in his eyes as she stepped away from him and closer to Kakashi.

"Trust me it's not," she muttered, handing the book back to Kakashi.

"Which is why you read it right?" Kakashi asked a barely noticeable tension in his voice.

"Well, I always wondered what it was that he wrote when I was off training with Master Jiraiya. As far as how interesting it is…only certain sections," she amended, laying a hand on Kakashi's shoulder lightly.

"We should head in and grab something to eat before Inuyasha eats it all," Miroku informed them before he headed back into the village, wondering what exactly was between those two.

Kakashi and Reyna followed along behind him. It didn't take long before they were seated outside Kaede's hut and eating a simple, yet filling breakfast. Reyna remained quiet throughout the meal, content to let Naruto and Sakura fill the void in conversation when it came to their team and she was impressed that Naruto managed to keep from revealing too much about Konaha. Once they had finished eating and the others had gathered their gear, the team of ninja fell in step with the other group as they headed west out of the village.

"If you don't mind my asking," Kakashi started, stepping up beside Kagome and Inuyasha, "why did you choose to head out in this direction?"

Reyna had been wondering much the same thing as Miroku stepped up to take Kakashi's place walking beside her even as Kagome replied, "Oh we just picked a random direction. I'm not sensing any of the shards to we aren't really sure where to head out to right now."

Reyna quirked a brow, "Is that a normal way that you choose where to head to?"

Miroku nodded, "Sometimes, but not always."

"Even Naruto usually knows which direction to head out in even if he doesn't always have a plan beyond finding the person he's looking for," she muttered under her breath, but Inuyasha and Miroku heard her.

Miroku chuckled even as Inuyasha turned on her, "So what the hell do you want us to do? Just sit around and wait until a shard falls into our lap?"

Reyna shrugged, "Well having a better idea as to even what direction to head in before leaving is usually a good start. What did you do; blindfold someone, spin them around until they were dizzy and ask them to point in a direction?"

Kakashi shook his head and stepped in front of Reyna, effectively stopping her from walking and staying between her and Inuyasha, "Reyna…"

"What? You know I don't play well with others, Kakashi."

"Come on, Reyna-Sensei where's your sense of adventure?" Naruto asked, bounding up on her other side.

"Just an observation, Naruto," she replied and stepped towards Kakashi, gently nudging him back a step, "but either way, Kakashi has to get out of my way if we plan on getting anywhere."

Kakashi rolled his eye and stepped out of her way, falling in step behind her as she continued to follow Kagome and Inuyasha. Kakashi pulled his book from his pocket and started reading as they walked along but it wasn't long before he dropped his book to his side and stood, slightly stunned as Miroku flew back and to the side, the entire company halting as the monk slowly pushed himself back to his feet, rubbing his jaw.

"I would suggest you keep your hands to yourself," Reyna snarled with her teeth bared; canines elongating in her anger.

"Ow…okay duly noted," Miroku muttered even as Kakashi laid a hand on Reyna's shoulder.

He was surprised when the anger didn't immediately leave her posture or her expression, "Reyna."

"I wouldn't suggest whatever you did to Reyna doing it to Sakura either," Naruto piped in with a beaming smile, barely containing his laughter since for a change of pace he hadn't been the one to get hit, "you may end up flying right through a tree then. Either that or she'll throw the tree at you."

Naruto's joke pulled the attention away from Reyna and she finally pulled her anger back under control before she looked over at Kakashi with a deep sigh, "Sorry, I'm okay now I think."

Kakashi nodded and dropped his hand from her shoulder slowly, "Just try not to kill them."

Reyna grinned and nodded but her attention was drawn to a new scent on the wind and it appeared the Inuyasha caught the same scent at the same time if his growl was any indication. Reyna puzzled over the new scent; there was definitely wolf scent to it, but it was different and, in her mind at least, very wrong. Her head snapped to look at Inuyasha when he snarled.

"Koga…"

"Oh no," Sango muttered from behind Reyna again and Kakashi turned a questioning gaze on the girl.

"Why oh no?"

"Koga is a wolf demon who thinks that Kagome should run off and leave us and Inuyasha behind to be his mate and rule the wolf pack," Miroku elaborated.

"Oh great…another damn pack," Reyna growled even as she tensed as a new figure appeared in the distance.

She felt Kakashi tense next to her and he took an unintentional step closer to her even as Naruto and Sakura closed ranks with the two Jounin. They all remembered too well what had happened with the new Leaf Pack and Reyna; she still bore a scar on her neck from that one. Still she didn't seem to be letting it affect her that much as they all stood and awaited the figure to reach them. They didn't need to wait long.

**A/N: Alright…so not as long as I could have made it but I felt I had to end this chapter here or it would have never ended! Next up will be the confrontation between Koga and the others which could prove interesting but Inuyasha and Reyna may finally have something to agree upon! As always please review and any suggestions of things you'd like to see send them along as well! If you want to know about the previous pack the Reyna dealt with and what happened check out my other story NARUTO PARTIES! Until next time!**


	7. Koga

**A/N: I cannot believe how long it's taken me to get this chapter up! I am so very, very, very, very sorry! I finally have a few ideas floating in my head, I'm just trying to capture them and save them to paper now. So the next chapter probably won't be too horribly exciting…I sorry for that but there are a few things about Reyna that I decided I needed to explain for the sake of those who haven't read my other stories. **

**Anyway, enough of my caffeine induced ramblings! I own nothing except Reyna and the plot line (such as it is) everything else is the property of the original creators and no copyright infringement is intended. This is just for my own amusement and because I cannot get enough of these characters!**

**KOGA**

The group stood and waited the few seconds that it took for Koga to reach them with Inuyasha growling under his breath and Reyna tensed and ready for a fight. The others just seemed to be waiting to see what was going to happen when he finally did arrive before them. At first it seemed that the wolf demon didn't even realize that anyone other than Kagome was there. He skidded to a stop in front of her, snatching both her hands in his.

"Kagome, are you still running around with this mutt-face?"

Inuyasha stepped between the two, shoving Koga back a step, "Who you calling mutt-face, Wolf?"

Kakashi shook his head, finally placing his book safely back in his pocket as Koga and Inuyasha glared at one another and Kagome tried to calm them both down. Reyna remained where she was, tensed and standing surrounded by her team, one hand resting on her kunai pouch ready to pull one out if she needed to. For the moment, she was willing to remain unnoticed though she was beginning to wonder why, when they obviously had the same sensitive sense of smell that she did, the other two very seldom seemed to use it. She pushed the thought from her mind when Koga finally turned his attention to the Leaf ninja, ignoring Inuyasha's attempts to get him to fight.

"I see you've picked up some new friends along the way," he spoke to Kagome as he stepped closer to the ninja and Reyna growled under her breath. "And it seems that you've finally got some good sense and joined up with a wolf, although she's not one of mine."

Reyna tensed even more as he stepped up in front of her and only Kakashi's hand on her shoulder stopped her from attacking right then though she did snarl, "And never will be."

"Oh I'm sure that there'd be one of my boys that would like to have a tough pretty female for their very own," Koga grinned and Kakashi's grip on her shoulder tightened slightly.

"If I wanted to be a part of a pack and deal with an egotistical, arrogant ass of an alpha like you; I would have joined the pack back home. At least they smell normal," she snarled in response.

Inuyasha snickered and Miroku quirked a brow even as Kagome spoke up, "Come on you guys. There isn't any reason to fight."

"Quiet, Kagome. I want to see Wolf Boy get his ass handed to him by a girl," Inuyasha snickered.

"Ha, no one can best me, Dog Breath. They'd have to catch me first," Koga shot back at Inuyasha before turning his attention back to Reyna. "You'll grow to love our scent."

Reyna growled and a kunai appeared in her hand although before she could speak or even raise the knife, Kakashi calm, quiet voice broke in, "If you plan on trying to take Reyna against her will, you will have to go through me first."

Koga finally looked to the silver haired Jounin and quirked a brow at the glare he was receiving, "You don't seriously think that you could beat me. Besides every wolf needs a pack and she doesn't have one."

"I don't just think I can do that, I know damn well that if you try anything I will prove that I can," Kakashi replied in that same almost lazy tone.

Sakura and Naruto looked to their team leader and were shocked at the tense posture and anger that they could discern in what was visible of his face. Slowly they stepped back towards Sango, Miroku and Kirara even though they would also step in if Koga tried anything against either of the senior ninja or Kagome.

"And I have a pack," Reyna ground out, striving for control now that she could scent Kakashi's anger as well. "They are sending with me here and if you think that a pack has to consist of more than four people…just because the rest of my pack isn't here does not mean I don't have one. I renounced the wolf pack that tried to pull me into their midst against my will so what the hell makes you think that you'll get any different response?"

"A wolf needs other wolves," Koga pressed and Reyna snarled.

"No. A wolf needs a pack that they can trust with their lives and the lives of their family; they need protection and safety and that is exactly what I have in my team and the rest of my pack."

Kakashi dropped his hand from her shoulder and Koga eyed her up, "So you'd trust the mutt over a fellow wolf?"

"You are not a fellow wolf. You do not share anything near the same scent as my kind. It's not a matter of me trusting Inuyasha over you; I trust my team over everyone," as she spoke she absently spun the kunai around her finger.

Koga grinned, "You'll change your mind when you meet the pack."

As he reached for her arm, she reacted instantly; sidestepping his grasp and bringing the kunai in her hand into a defensive position before her body. The instant she moved, the rest of her team also had weapons in hand and were stepping in behind her and beside her.

"You attack one of us," Sakura glared.

"You fight all of us. We've got Reyna-Sensei's back no matter what," Naruto completed.

Koga sighed and shook his head, "Fine, suit yourself. Kagome, I'll check in on you later."

In a cloud of dust a second later, Koga was gone again though Reyna did not immediately relax again. She did replace her kunai, as did the others, but for the rest of the day that they travelled she remained silent and tense. Naruto chattered away with the others, as did Sakura on occasion and Kakashi even spoke lightly with Sango for a while but whenever anybody attempted to include Reyna in any conversation, she never replied. In fact she very seldom looked towards the others and she seemed permanently on guard. Finally the others stopped trying and only her team approached her for the remainder of their travelling time that day.

As the sun started to sink into the horizon, Reyna finally seemed to be relaxing again and approached Kagome and Inuyasha who were leading the group still, "Did you have a spot in mind to make camp tonight?"

Kagome looked at her in shock for a second, surprised that she was talking to them but Inuyasha replied almost immediately, "We'll just find stop wherever we are when it gets too dark for you mortals to see by."

"In case you forgot; I am half wolf," Reyna muttered before she shook her head, "That's not the greatest idea. If you look for a place now and stop a little earlier you'll at least have a good defensive position if you happen to need it. In addition to that, we can scout around the immediate area and have a pretty good idea of the surrounding layout in case we need a quick escape. Not to mention the fact that everyone would have a better rest tonight and be ready to move out again earlier in the morning."

Kagome giggled and drew the attention of Reyna and Inuyasha who snapped, "Something funny, Kagome?"

"No, it's just that what Reyna said makes a lot of sense," Kagome smoothed over.

"Fine, where do you suggest we stop then?" Inuyasha asked Reyna roughly.

Reyna paused briefly and closed her eyes trying to ignore the uneasy feeling that accompanied the fact that she recognized very few scents on the breeze, but still she took a deep breath and sifted through those she could recognize, "Well, without knowing anything about the area, I'd say probably about three hundred feet ahead of us. There's a natural hot spring there and, considering the fact that those of us from Konaha are starting to smell a bit funky, everyone loves a hot spring."

Miroku suddenly appeared beside her, "Did you say hot spring?"

Reyna lifted a brow and glanced over at the monk and he raised both hands, "I swear I wasn't going to try anything."

Reyna snorted and shook her head, "And you'll continue to not try anything unless you want a repeat of earlier; and yes I did say hot spring. Aside from that fact, there seems to be fresh water not too far away from that and decent cover provided by those large trees."

"You got all that from scenting the air?" Shippo asked from between Kagome and Inuyasha.

"Yeah, she does that all the time!" Naruto exclaimed from behind them.

"It does come in really handy when we're on long missions in the middle of nowhere," Sakura added.

"Or when we're travelling to someplace we've been before and she can find the best spots to stop that we've been at before just by a familiar scent," Kakashi chuckled.

"Yeah, knowing where there's water when you travel through a desert is definitely a good thing," Sakura muttered.

Sango laughed, "Alright, then I say we take Reyna's suggestions on where to stop then."

Reyna sighed and Inuyasha shrugged, "Fine but we're starting out early tomorrow morning then since we're going to lose time tonight."

The others agreed and within the next ten minutes the small band of friends and allies were starting to set up a camp for the night. The Leaf Team fell into their usual routines; after taking so many missions together they had making and breaking camp down to a fine science. Even Inuyasha just seemed to stop and watch them as the four ninja had the camp set up in a matter of minutes when it would have taken the others several times longer to do it themselves.

Miroku was the first to shake out of the stunned expression, "That's impressive. You guys never seem to fall over each other and yet you're all seemingly everywhere at once."

"We've made enough of these over the years that it's just second nature. We know where everyone else is going to be so we just kind of step around one another," Sakura shrugged it off.

"Wow, it must have taken forever to get to that level of teamwork," Sango muttered.

The four teammates looked at one another and shrugged, "We spend a lot of our time training working on teamwork." Naruto finally spoke.

"And while the first time it was annoying…and I guess more than a little terrifying…Kakashi-Sensei's bell test is the best way to tell if a team is going to be able to survive or not."

"Bell test?" Kagome asked.

Kakashi chuckled, "Yes, a bell test. After graduating from the Academy the students are broken down into three man squads with a Jounin, like me, to train them and lead them in basic D-Rank Missions. The bell test wasn't my own invention; Sarutobi used it to test his team; Jiraiya then used it to test his team; Minato-Sensei used it to test his team and I have used it to test every team that's been assigned to me. They were the first to pass. You see, I have two bells which I tell the three of them they have to get away from me, using any means necessary…"

"And that if we're not willing to kill him, we won't get the bells," Naruto added and Kakashi sighed.

"Yes, well, that too. However they are also told that only the two who get a bell will pass the test and continue on to becoming a ninja while the third, who did not get a bell, will be sent back to the Academy."

"So you pit the three of them against one another?" Kagome asked.

Kakashi nodded, "Yes, because a true team works together no matter what. They passed because when I gave them a second chance, they showed that they were a true team; willing to sacrifice their own success to help a teammate."

"Who was the teammate that needed the help?" Shippo asked.

"Naruto, naturally," Kakashi laughed and Naruto stuck his tongue out at his teacher.

"So Reyna and Sakura were willing to give up being ninja to help Naruto?" Miroku asked.

"You're right on Sakura but when they were assigned to Kakashi I was already a Jounin. You don't honestly think that I was still a Genin when they were, do you?" Reyna asked indignant.

"Okay, so what happened to their original third member then?" Kagome asked curious.

"That's a long story and one that hits a little too close to home for all of us," Kakashi replied, noticing the fall expressions on the faces of his students and the slight cringe and the fact that Reyna pressed a hand to her chest at the mention of that third member.

"Alright…" Kagome nodded, the rest of the group hadn't missed the expressions on Naruto and Sakura though they hadn't noticed Reyna's reaction and if they had they had no idea what it meant.

"Well, I think I'm going to head down to the hot spring," Sango announced with a smile and Sakura shook her dark mood off slowly.

"I think I'll join you, if that's alright, Sango," Sakura offered and Sango nodded.

"Anyone else?" Sango asked and glared as Miroku immediately leapt to his feet. "Let me rephrase, any of the other girls?"

Kagome nodded and also pushed to her feet, digging towels out of her still bulging backpack. To Kakashi, Sakura and Naruto's shock Reyna also pushed to her feet though far more slowly than Kagome had. Kakashi shot her a look and she shrugged before wrinkling her nose at him and he chuckled a little at the expression. She tossed a wave over her shoulder at him as she followed the rest of the girls down to the hot spring.

"And don't even think about trying to peek, Miroku! Don't forget we have Reyna with us and she will be able to smell you a mile away," Sango called back to the group.

Sakura shook her head, "Would he really?"

"Probably," Sango and Kagome replied together.

Reyna shook her head, "It's almost like travelling with Master Jiraiya again."

"Now I'm really glad I chose to train with Lady Tsunade then. It may have been brutal but at least she never tried to spy on me," Sakura shuddered and Reyna chuckled a little.

"He never tried it on me, but it seemed like he just travelled to wherever there was a good hot spring or there was mention of pretty girls," Reyna replied just as they reached the water.

"That sounds like Miroku alright, the lecherous monk," Sango growled.

Kagome laughed, "Yes, he does always seem to perk up at the mention of pretty girls."

"At least now I know who he reminded Naruto and me of when we first met him," Reyna sighed.

The girls continued to talk of random things as they pulled their clothes off and left them piled nearby. Reyna was the last one to step into the water and walked to the far side of the spring, trying to ignore the startled gasps from Kagome and Sango when they spotted the black scar between her shoulder blades before she turned and sunk to her chin in the water. By the looks on their faces, they had seen the smaller, though matching scar that resided just barely to the right of her sternum. She shared a look with Sakura and knew she was going to have to explain not only that scar but several of the others that had become visible as she had stripped with the other girls.

**A/N: Okies…so I didn't do as much with Koga as I had planned, but he will return later. Up next is EXPLANTIONS so for those of you who haven't read my other stories a few things will be explained…like Reyna and Kakashi's first meeting when they were kids, Reyna's scar on her back and chest. Miroku will get his hands on that little orange book very soon as well. As always please review and feed the muse since she has decided to take off to somewhere much warmer than here and leave me stranded with two stories to write!**


	8. Explanations

**A/N: Okies, I've been battling writer's block lately and trying to get some horses trained so I'm sorry if I don't get this updated as quickly as I'd like! Anyway, here's the next chapter and unfortunately there's not much action in it. Sorry about that as well, but there are a few things that require some explanation for those who haven't read my other stories! As always I only own Reyna and the plot all else is property of the original creators…**

**EXPLANATIONS**

While the girls all headed off towards the hot spring, the men settled in around the fire, at first in relative silence. Kakashi once again had his book in hand and to everyone except Naruto, he appeared to be completely at ease and not even really paying attention to what was happening around him. Naruto knew better however and realized that if anything was going to happen, it would be Kakashi that would realize it first. Miroku was staring absently into the fire with Shippo by his side while Inuyasha was leaning back against a tree, his sword resting across his knees.

Finally Naruto spoke, mainly out of boredom, "Kakashi-Sensei, why did Reyna-Sensei fight you the first time you met? Was it during the Chuunin Exams or something?"

Kakashi glanced up from his book and over at his student, "Huh? No, it wasn't during the Exams. I was Chuunin before Reyna even showed up in the village. No, she was training with Master Jiraiya as a Genin the first time we ran into each other. They were heading back to the Leaf for the next Chuunin Exam and I was heading back with Minato-Sensei and my team after a mission and they travelled with us the last couple of days."

"I thought you two were the same rank," Miroku joined in the conversation now as well and Shippo nodded beside him.

"We are now, but we weren't always. Reyna's a couple years younger than I am and I was Chuunin at the age of five. She didn't even move into the village until a couple of years after that when she was six and she was in the Academy for two years after that. She was thirteen before she reached Jounin and by then I was ANBU which has nothing to do with this particular story."

"Okay, so what started the fight then? I mean if both your teachers were there, they should have stopped it," Shippo piped in.

Naruto shook his head, "No way. At least not unless it got out of hand, after all we are trained to fight and we train against each other all the time."

Kakashi nodded, "Naruto's right; besides I'm pretty sure the two of them were betting on which one of us would win. After all, Minato-Sensei had been Master Jiraiya's student when he was Genin. "

"So what started the fight then?" Naruto asked.

"She did, but you have to keep in mind that we were both very different shinobi than we are today. I guess in some ways I started it too; after all I could have walked away. I was higher ranked and shouldn't have let it get to me…and I kind of dared her to prove that she was as good as she was talking herself up to be; but she threw the first punch."

Naruto chuckled, trying to imagine that happening. Of course he had no idea what the two of them had been like in their younger years, so he was substituting in how he knew them to be now. Kakashi shook his head, grinning under his mask at the memory of that fight. Inuyasha snorted.

"Well, who won then?" Inuyasha finally asked.

"Neither of us; although she more than proved she was as good as I was, just in a much different way. She managed to knock me off balance with an Earth Style technique that I haven't seen her use since and create a clone all in the same instant without me being able to see it coming. Master Jiraiya yelled, I hit her again and she rolled with it. Minato-Sensei stopped me and Master Jiraiya stopped her. I didn't see Reyna again until I was an ANBU and she was working a mission with the ANBU team as a Chuunin. She really does have a bad habit of hating someone at first and later becoming friends with them."

Naruto continued to laugh at the idea of his two teachers being that young and reckless, "Sometime later I need to hear more of these stories. Maybe I'll ask Pervy Sage for some about Reyna-Sensei. Not sure who could tell me about you though, Kakashi-Sensei."

"Why not talk to this Minato?" Miroku suggested.

Kakashi shook his head, "That's not possible. He was killed during the attack of the Nine Tailed Fox. Before you even ask, no I won't tell you about that."

"Do you have any other stories you could tell us about though?" Shippo asked hopefully.

Kakashi sighed but Naruto nodded, wanting to get off the subject of the Nine Tails as quickly as possible, "Sure, we've had a ton of missions. Hey, Kakashi-Sensei can I tell them about the mission to rescue Gaara? I mean the Kazekage?"

"I don't see where it could hurt," Kakashi nodded, returning to his book though his thoughts were still on the past.

"Who's Gaara?" Inuyasha asked his curiosity piqued despite his attempts not to get drawn into this strange team.

Back at the hot spring, Reyna was resting with her back against the rock still sunk to her chin in the water. She was waiting for one of either Sango or Kagome to ask about the scar on her back. She knew they had seen it by the look on their faces. Sakura was sitting across from her and from the look on her face; she was waiting for the same thing. The four of them sat in silence for a while before Sakura shifted uncomfortably.

"Reyna-Sensei, I've been wanting to ask you something," Sakura started slowly and Reyna looked up at her.

"Sure, Sakura."

"Well, I heard a lot of rumors from some of the other Jounin. They say that you were really reckless and tended to get in a lot of fights for no reason when you were younger."

Sango and Kagome looked over at the seemingly calm and relaxed Reyna and Sango shrugged, "I can't picture it."

Reyna smirked a little at that and shook her head, "Believe me when I say I have calmed down a great deal. Well, actually I guess the credit should go to Master Jiraiya for beating that reckless, careless attitude out of me from the time he started training me. Yes, Sakura I was something of an aggressive kid. In fact, the Third Hokage had several of the Jounin that would be taking teams the year I graduated approach him long before the Exam to voice their opinion of me and express the fact that they did not want the responsibility of having me on their team and in all honesty they were probably right. I would have been a major liability on any team before training with Master Jiraiya."

Kagome grinned, "You speak of Jiraiya like he's your hero."

Reyna shrugged, "In a lot of ways, he is. When I was a kid, it always seemed like people couldn't get rid of me fast enough so I had to prove that I was as good as anyone else. The problem was that the fighting just made it worse, although I never lost a fight until Master Jiraiya. He didn't take it easy on me either, but I did manage to earn his respect that day. I was barely out of the Academy and I could use the Head Hunter Jutsu. Too bad I used it on a clone instead of the real Jiraiya."

Sakura laughed at that, "He really went all out against you?"

"I wouldn't say that or I'd still be recovering in a hospital bed. No, he just taught me a lesson…I wasn't as great as I thought I was. I was talented but I couldn't stand alone against a Jounin. He was the first person who actually acted like he wanted me around, but he didn't want the attitude. He was the first person I really trusted and who treated me like I mattered in the world. So I guess he's not so much a hero to me, but so much more. He was my teacher and he is still my closest friend; even if he does laugh at some of the issues I talk to him about."

"Like Kakashi-Sensei?" Sakura giggled and Reyna glared.

"Among other things…He's the first person I turn to for anything and everything. I really don't know what I'd do without him. Even when I entered the Chuunin Exams and was on a team for the first time, it was Jiraiya-Sensei who kept me focused and had the faith in me that I could win over that team and succeed."

"That's right! You were on Kurenai-Sensei's team weren't you?"

Reyna nodded, "Yes and if you want to know about that training, you should talk to Kurenai."

Sakura giggled and the group fell silent again for a few minutes before Sango finally cleared her throat and Reyna glanced over at her, "You don't have to answer this if you don't want to. After all you never asked about mine, but…how did you earn that scar, Reyna? And why is it black as shadow?"

Reyna sighed and she saw Sakura cringe slightly though if it was at the memory of the fight or the aftermath of it, she wasn't sure, "It's a normal enough question, Sango. I'll answer the second question first though; it turned black because I managed to somehow fuck up my own technique. You saw that Shadow Shield I used against that demon right?"

Kagome and Sango both nodded, "Yes."

"That is a Tagisha clan technique, although I don't know if I created it or if I simply rediscovered it. I hastily created a shield to protect myself and Naruto but it didn't hold and must have clung to the blade and because it's a protective jutsu I can only assume that when I was stabbed, it maintained that protectiveness only this time it was to keep me from bleeding out."

"I never even thought of that when we were working to save your life," Sakura muttered and all eyes turned to her. "I'm a medical ninja remember. It makes sense that I would be trying to save my Sensei's life despite how it had happened."

Kagome raised a brow, "This sounds like it's more than just Reyna who's going to be uncomfortable with this story."

"Just be glad Kakashi-Sensei isn't around to hear this again; I don't ever want to see him like that again. I prefer his usual annoying calmness now."

Reyna laughed at that and shook her head, "I maintain; I am really glad I was unconscious for that. Besides, I can get enough reaction out of him without dying thank you. Anyway, yes, Kagome, this story affects Sakura closely as well. You see, we were sent out to find their former teammate Saskue when Lady Tsunade got information on where he was. Saskue turned against the Leaf, although I'm not sure if Naruto sees that one yet or not. Anyway, since I don't have any kind of tie to Saskue, I agreed that if we couldn't bring him back I would do whatever was necessary to eliminate the threat."

"So you were willing to kill your students' friend?" Kagome asked completely shocked.

Reyna nodded, "Yes. We are shinobi and while I may not necessarily enjoy killing for no reason other than that it's a mission; which is why I never became ANBU, I will kill any threat to the village. I renounced a wolf pack for that village, claiming that the Leaf was my pack now. Anyway, I gave Naruto a chance to talk Saskue into coming back with us, but when Naruto was going to be killed simply because he wouldn't fight his friend, I threw myself between Naruto and Saskue's sword and automatically created a Shadow Shield. Saskue had knocked Sakura unconscious, injured Kakashi…"

"Which probably pissed you off more than the fact that he had hurt me," Sakura giggled.

Reyna grinned and continued, "Most likely, Sakura…but Saskue was going to kill Naruto and I would not allow that to happen while I could do something against it. The shield, however, did not hold obviously. I took the blade to the back and it pierced through at an angle, barely missing my heart though it did slice through a lung. Shards of my shadows remained solid within the wound and my body; in fact one of those shards had lodged itself in my heart apparently. Naruto still refused to give up and when Saskue was going to finally manage to kill Naruto, I couldn't allow it to happen while I could still draw breath. I got to Saskue and killed him before I collapsed. Kakashi and Sakura rushed me back to the Leaf and the Kazekage called Kayha to the village to help me. Without Kayha, I'd be dead but without Sakura, Ino, and Lady Tsunade I would have died before Kayha would have reached me. I owe them all my life…even if I did die for a few minutes during the whole saving process."

The group fell silent for a few minutes before Kagome spoke again, "That's horrible."

"No, what's horrible is the fact that it wasn't even Saskue that was there that day. We'd seen the technique before but we were so worried about Reyna-Sensei that we didn't find out until later when the body was recovered by ANBU," Sakura said quietly.

"The threat remains, but then there's always some sort of threat I suppose and in all honesty I'd rather fight Saskue a million times over than have to deal with Zeke's men," Reyna muttered. "I'm not going into that one though, so don't bother asking. Let's just say that Zeke is evil and leave it at that."

Sango nodded, "Fair enough. I really didn't mean to bring up such bad memories though."

Reyna shrugged, "Don't worry about it. We've all learned to live with a lot of bad memories and make the most of the good ones. That's where having Naruto around is a good thing; he always manages to find the bright side of a dark situation."

Kagome nodded, "He does always seem to be happy."

"Not always, but he hides it well. You have to know him extremely well, or have a nose like mine to find the bad days but no matter what happens he never gives up on his friends or his village. Hell, he's the one who united the Sand and the Leaf in the end and proved to the Kazekage that there was something better to fight for than just yourself," Reyna sighed.

"I just realized something though," Sango muttered and they looked to her.

It was Kagome who spoke next though, "I think I've just realized the same thing, Sango." They both looked to Reyna who quirked a brow before Kagome continued, "Are you and Kakashi…together?"

"We're team mates so we're normally together," Reyna dodged and Sakura laughed.

"What I meant was; are you two a couple," Kagome clarified as Reyna glared at Sakura.

"They are they just don't show it much around other people. You have to watch very, very closely to see it," Sakura was still laughing as she spoke.

"And on that note, I think I'm going to head back to camp and beat my head against a tree," Reyna muttered a touch of red creeping up her cheeks.

"I think we all should so that the guys can have their turn," Kagome laughed and the four of them climbed out of the water only to realize that they had a small problem. "I only brought three towels."

"Great…so two of us have to share a towel which means one of us gets to use a wet towel," Sango muttered darkly.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure Reyna-Sensei and I can share one," Sakura replied.

"No we won't. Sakura as long as you can carry my clothes back, I'll be fine. I may take a while a dry but I'll stay close to the fire," Reyna shook her head.

"Wait, you're going to head back into the camp…with Miroku there…with no clothes on?" Kagome was shocked.

Reyna laughed and Sakura joined her a second later when she realized what Reyna was planning, "Well, kind of although I will be furry…and have four legs."

"What?" Sango and Kagome asked in unison.

"Reyna-Sensei can shift forms between three separate ones. Human, wolf and a combination of the two which, to be quite honest, is rather terrifying to see. Especially considering she only uses it when she's really pissed off and in the middle of a losing battle," Sakura informed them and even as they watched Reyna's form seemed to shimmer and a second later a fairly large caramel colored wolf was standing in her place; water dripping from her hair with a slash of pure black fur between her shoulder blades where the scar would be and another small touch of black on her chest.

Reyna stepped away from the other three as they dried off and shook to get as dry as she possibly could before they all headed back to camp. Sakura had gathered up Reyna's clothes and carried them back while the four legged Reyna padded along between her and Sango. When they reached the camp, the others looked up at them expecting to see the four girls. Shock crossed the faces of Inuyasha, Shippo and Miroku when they saw only three girls and a large wolf. Kirara hissed at the wolf before Sango scolded her and she finally recognized the scent of Reyna. Reyna merely glanced at her as Naruto explained the fact that Reyna could shift forms at will. Sakura placed Reyna's clothing next to her pack and bedroll while Reyna padded over to lie beside Kakashi who was sitting close to the fire and still reading. Miroku, Shippo and Naruto headed for the hot spring next while Kakashi and Inuyasha declined.

As Reyna slowly started to dry, she noticed that Sango and Kagome were watching her and Kakashi a lot closer than they had been before they had learned about their relationship. Sighing Reyna shook her head a little and decided that since they knew anyway, there was no reason why she shouldn't act the way she always did around Kakashi in camp and so she laid her head on his outstretched leg and braced her back against his other one before closing her eyes. What she had forgotten however was the fact that Inuyasha knew nothing about them and Kakashi himself hadn't been part of that conversation. By the time she realized this it was too late to change anything; so she decided she'd explain to Kakashi in the morning why she had fewer reservations in her actions and Inuyasha could either ask or be left in the dark; she really didn't care as she slowly started to drift off to sleep, knowing that Kakashi would wake her and move her when he either needed to get some sleep himself or became uncomfortable.

**A/N: Okay, so another chapter is done and up! Yay! Now I have to figure out what they're going to run into the next day…any suggestions that you have send them along to my muse since she seems to have abandoned me lately! Please review and let me know what you thought! Hopefully there will be some action happening again soon!**


	9. A New Lead

**A/N: Wow, this chapter has been a long time in coming! I am so sorry to everyone who's been waiting patiently for me to finally get my crap together and get another chapter up! I hope you enjoy this chapter, though I don't think it's my best by any stretch. As always I only own Reyna and the plot, all else is property of the original creators!**

**A NEW LEAD**

It wasn't too long before Miroku, Shippo and Naruto returned from their own time in the hot spring. The group spent a while chatting and sharing stories of previous battles. The Inuyasha gang was shocked to learn of some of the missions that Team 7 had taken when they were only eleven but the ninja just shrugged it off, explaining that generally Genin level students didn't take such high risk missions. In return, the ninja learned of the Shikon Jewel and Naraku's plan as far as the others knew it anyway. As night deepened around them, they eventually headed for their individual sleeping areas and Kakashi finally reached out and gently shook Reyna back into the waking world; they were the only two still awake at that point.

Reyna yawned and stood before slowly stretching and Kakashi chuckled quietly earning him a bit of a glare from the wolf, "You may want clothes before the others wake."

Reyna nodded slightly, her ears pricked toward him as she watched him gather her clothes and head a short ways off into the trees. Shaking herself, she followed him to where he laid her clothes before he headed back for the camp. Sighing to herself, Reyna shifted back to her human self and quickly dressed before heading back to camp on bare feet. Kakashi glanced up at her as she appeared and she shot him a brief smile before she fixed her own bedroll and stretched out on her back, staring at the stars above them.

"I'll take first watch," Kakashi said softly and she lifted her head.

"I already got some sleep, Kashi. I'll take it," she replied in a low tone and he sighed.

"I'm not going to win this argument am I?"

"Not a chance in hell," she grinned at him and he sighed before settling more comfortably.

"Fine, but don't you dare take watch all night like you usually do," he finally muttered before closing his eye.

Reyna bared her teeth and stuck her tongue out at him, even though he couldn't see her and returned to watching the stars. They were strange and soon she sat up again, staring into the fire a twisting in her gut reminding her just how much she missed home. She couldn't find a single familiar constellation and it bothered her. Sighing quietly, she grabbed her pack and dug through it deciding that since she had nothing to do; she might as well take stock of what weapons she had with her. Once she completed that task she leaned back on her elbows and let her thoughts wander for a while until her eyes began to get heavy. At that point, she slid over to Kakashi and lightly shook his shoulder. Instantly he was awake and looked up at her.

"I'm getting tired so I figured I'd wake you to take watch," she whispered next to his ear so she didn't wake the others and he nodded.

She was about to crawl back to her own blanket when he grabbed her arm lightly and whispered, "Out of curiosity, why did you sleep on me in your wolf form this evening? Usually when we travel with people who don't know us, we don't advertise our relationship like that."

Reyna sighed, "Kagome and Sango figured it out anyway and in all honesty, I needed it."

Kakashi nodded, "Well, maybe Miroku won't grope you tomorrow now."

She grinned and shrugged before he finally let her go back to her own blankets where she curled up on her left side so she was still facing him and closed her eyes. He knew she had to be tired when it took her only a few minutes to fall asleep. He sighed and stared into the fire before he silently pushed to his feet and leapt into a branch above his position. He remained settled on that branch for the rest of the night until the first rays of sunlight crept over the horizon. He dropped silently back down into the camp and stepped over to Reyna.

Crouching, he lightly ran a hand down her arm and she grumbled in her sleep for a second before finally opening her eyes and looking up at him. Yawning, she sat up slowly and turned a questioning look to Kakashi, wondering why he had her up so early. He smiled under his mask and she shook her head at him, stifling another yawn as she moved to stoke the fire back into life in order to start something for breakfast. She puzzled over that one for a few minutes as she worked on breathing life back into the still hot coals, but it wasn't long before their movements woke Kagome, Sakura and Inuyasha as well. Reyna sent a warning glare at the dog demon even as he opened his mouth to say something and he just as quickly closed it again.

As quickly as they could, the five of them started cooking and packing up their own bed rolls while letting the others sleep for as long as possible. Soon the smell of breakfast roused the rest of the group; though Shippo and Naruto were the final two to final drag themselves out of their blankets to join the rest of the group in eating.

"So, what the hell is up with you two anyway?" Inuyasha suddenly inquired of Kakashi who was sitting on his right.

The ninja turned his head in order to look at him, "Hmm, what's up between whom?"

"Between you and the wolf."

"Hey, just because I'm a wolf doesn't mean you have get snippy about it," Reyna growled.

"Yeah, I guess you're not like that damn Koga."

Kakashi sighed and sent a look at Reyna who immediately fell silent and returned to eating, not wanting to get in an argument with Kakashi over something as trivial as that and the senior Jounin turned back to Inuyasha, "Does it really matter what's between us?"

"No, I was just curious," Inuyasha muttered and Kagome giggled.

"They've been together for a little while now," Sakura supplied quietly and Naruto nodded.

"It even took us a while to realize it," he grinned. "So don't feel too bad about not picking it up. Hell, we know them a hell of a lot better than you do and we missed it for a while until they were actually out on a date."

"Don't remind me of that," Reyna groaned shaking her head.

"That bad?" Sango asked and Kakashi nodded.

"Everything that could go wrong, did," he replied lightly with a shrug.

"But you're still together?" Shippo asked.

"Yeah, we just decided that if it isn't broke, don't fix it. Why should we have to run our lives like a normal person would? We aren't normal people," Reyna muttered, staring into the once again dying fire.

The group fell silent after that until Miroku spoke, "So I guess I'm just really lucky I only had you hit me yesterday then, huh?"

Kakashi chuckled, "She can fight her own battles."

"I noticed," Miroku grumbled rubbing the cheek that she had hit the day before.

The group laughed and shortly after they ended the conversation they cleaned up their small camp and once again headed out. Reyna seemed to be in a better mood than she had been the day before and Kakashi was pretty sure it had to do with the fact that she had finally gotten a decent night's sleep. He kept his book in his hip pouch for the time being as he trailed along at the back of the group as per his usual routine. It wasn't long before Reyna fell back to walk with him again, leaving Naruto and Sakura to amuse their new allies with random stories from home. She caught most of what Naruto was currently telling Miroku about his training with Jiraiya and she felt that same twisting in her gut as she had the night before while watching the stars. Kakashi glanced over at her and laid a hand on her shoulder causing her to glance up at him.

"We'll find this guy and go home, Reyna," he kept his voice low so that even Inuyasha could only hear his voice but not his words.

Reyna nodded wordlessly as she walked for a second before she replied in the same low tone, "But going home is going to be hard too, especially for them." She motioned at Naruto and Sakura who were laughing with Kagome, Sango, Shippo and Miroku at something.

Kakashi sighed and nodded, "One way or another, this just isn't easy."

They continued trailing along at the back of the group until Inuyasha stopped dead in his tracks and Reyna heard the slightest hint of a growl before he spoke, "Damn it."

Kakashi and Reyna stepped up into the midst of the group as they gathered around the irritated Inuyasha. Kakashi shot Reyna a look that asked if she was picking up anything unusual and she shrugged. She couldn't tell if there was anything around that didn't belong or not. Without another word, Inuyasha unsheathed his sword and jogged off. The group shared a look before breaking into a run behind him; the ninja seeming to be the most relaxed of all of them. The sound of shouting reached them before they cleared the trees and they slid to a stop, the ninja unconsciously stepping in front of the rest of the group.

"Sesshomaru," Kagome muttered as she watched Inuyasha face off against his brother.

Reyna sighed and cocked a hip as she shook her head. The new comer, who she had to admit now that she was close enough to really catch a good whiff of his scent was very similar to Inuyasha, didn't seem the least bit interested in fighting. In fact, he appeared bored with the whole confrontation. Movement off to her right, sent her back into a tense posture until a young, and very human, girl stepped out of the trees with a smile on her face.

"Hi," she greeted cheerfully before looking back at the combating brothers, though Inuyasha seemed be doing all the fighting as the other merely stepped out of the way, saying he wasn't there to start a fight.

"Hi," Sakura smiled at the girl. "I'm Sakura, what's your name?"

"I'm Rin. I really hope he doesn't hurt Lord Sesshomaru, its bad enough that Master Jakken is hurt already."

Sakura quirked a brow, "There's someone hurt? Are they nearby? Maybe I could help."

Rin only shook her head, "No, we have the right herbs with us to treat his wounds. It was really strange though, I've never seen anyone dressed the way those men were. Actually the four of you are dressed a lot like them…"

Reyna saw the girl's fear long before the others and was instantly crouched in front of the girl, pointing to the Leaf Symbol on her headband, "Did they wear headbands like this Rin?"

Kakashi was shocked to his very core at the soft and nonthreatening tone of her voice as she spoke to the young girl. He'd never known that she could be so patient and kind. He shook his head as he watched her easily win the girl over with that tone of voice and the soft gaze she gave the child. Naruto and Sakura seemed to be just as shocked as Kakashi at the shift in the Jounin as she smiled encouragingly at the child before her when she hesitated to answer.

"Well…not exactly like that. The marking on it was different," Rin finally supplied and Reyna smiled that soft smile again.

"Okay can you tell me what it did look like?" Reyna asked again, her tone soft and gentle as though soothing a frightened animal.

"It was…um…"

"How about if you draw it in the dirt here?" Reyna asked handing the girl a small twig and the child quickly sketched out the symbol that had been on the headbands of those that had attacked them.

"They even managed to avoid Lord Sesshomaru. That's why we were looking for Inuyasha and Kagome because maybe they had seen them too and knew who they were."

Reyna gazed at the symbol the girl had drawn; the symbol for the Sound Village with a line through it and she sighed before turning another soft smile on the girl striving to hold onto this persona while the wolf snarled, "Well, we kind of do. You see me and the other three that have headbands like mine are searching for these men. They've attacked villages that are friends with our home village."

"So…you're the good guys then?" Rin asked softly and Reyna smiled and nodded.

"Exactly; these men as well as my team and I, are from a land very, very far away from here. We have different…powers than the people here and that's why they could avoid the attacks of your…Lord Sesshomaru. We have to find these men and stop them before we can go back to our own homes," Reyna explained.

To her left, Inuyasha had stopped fighting and she glanced up to realize that his opponent was swiftly moving towards her. Not that she was too worried about that. Slowly she pushed herself to her feet and turned a now cool gaze on the approaching demon even as Rin ran to him. Reyna was puzzled by that, but shook it off as the girl explained what Reyna had just told her.

"You are searching for these men?" he asked coldly and Kakashi replied.

"We thought that there had only been one that ended up here with us."

"Then you are mistaken as there are at the very least four of them. One of their blades carried a poison that I cannot find a cure for," Sesshomaru turned his gaze on Kakashi.

"Let me try to help. I'm a medic where I come from. I may be able to extract the poison and, with luck, I have an antidote with me as well," Sakura spoke up.

"Fine. Rin, take them to Jakken."

Rin nodded and grabbed Reyna's hand before pulling her back the way she had come. The Leaf Ninja quickly fell in step behind them. Sakura cringed when she realized that the person that had been poisoned wasn't exactly a person. She could only hope that her techniques would still work on the creature before her. Efficiently, she set the rest of the ninja to work, gathering clean water for her to use to extract the poison. Naruto then took Rin aside, trying to keep her distracted with Kakashi and Reyna held down the poisoned Jakken. After what seemed hours, she was done and stood with a sigh.

"I don't have an antidote with me and I don't know what to use to create one here, but as long as he doesn't move too much his own system should rid him of the rest of the poison," Sakura spoke turning to face the approaching Sesshomaru and the Inuyasha gang.

"That's fine. He will not have to travel under his own power as long as he can ride on something," Sesshomaru replied and Sakura cringed.

"Just don't move very fast or very far at a time and he should be alright. I don't understand the exact biology of him, so I can't guarantee anything though."

"You can leave now. The men you seek headed north of here," his cold voice never changed even as Rin clung to his hand.

"Hey! We were…" Sakura snagged Inuyasha by the shoulder and starting dragging the struggling half demon away. "Hey! Ow, that hurts!"

Naruto chuckled and jogged after the two of them. The rest of the group followed, leaving the other three to deal with their own affairs as they had wished it to be. Kakashi and Reyna brought up the rear once again as they headed north of their location. Reyna constantly scented the air for any hint of those they were pursuing but couldn't catch even the faintest whiff. Sakura continued to drag Inuyasha along for a while until he finally quit yelling at her. At that point she finally released him and he moved to walk alongside Kagome again.

"Where did that come from?" Kakashi asked softly of Reyna as they walked.

"Where did what come from?" she asked, glancing over at him and he caught the genuine confusion in her gaze.

"The soft, gentle Reyna that dealt with young Rin back there; where the hell did she come from?" he asked again.

Reyna shrugged and sighed, "Instinct actually. She was terrified and you didn't need my nose to pick that one up. She thought we were just like the ones who attacked them. The wolf reacted to that and sought to comfort a pup."

Kakashi shook his head, "You continually surprise me, Reyna."

"In good ways, I hope."

He nodded, "Most definitely in good ways."

The group continued heading north, since they had nothing more to go on than the direction that they had been given. They stopped as the sun reached higher in the sky for a break and to have something to eat. While the rest of the group lounged around in the grass, Reyna headed off in various directions in hope that she would find some kind of sign that said they were heading in the right direction or where they should go next. Finally she returned to the group and stood off to the side.

"Nothing?" Inuyasha called and she shook her head. "Huh, didn't think you'd find anything."

"Inuyasha…" Kagome started but Reyna cut her off.

"It's fine, Kagome. He's right; I'm completely out of my element in this world and it's pissing me off to no end. I really didn't expect to find anything around here that would point in a direction. I just hate wandering aimlessly and hoping that something falls in my lap," she growled in frustration as she finished speaking.

"We'll find them. If they're keeping to the same patterns as they did at home, all we have to do is follow the ruined villages. Here it should be even easier to track them that way since their abilities aren't going to be easy to confuse with someone else. People will be talking about it for weeks, or even months, after the incident just because of what they can do," Kakashi smoothed and Reyna sighed.

"As long as they use chakra, you're right."

"Well, what else are they going to use. It's not like they're trying to hide that they're ninja; they're even still wearing their headbands," Naruto added.

"Which is going to make our lives a hell of a lot more entertaining since here there won't be the distinction like at home based on the symbols," Kakashi reminded him.

Reyna sighed, "Let's just keep moving so I can at least lie to myself and say we have something of an idea."

The group moved out a few minutes later and Kakashi continued to try to reassure Reyna though she only shook her head at his attempts. As the sun started to sink lower in the sky, the group turned to Reyna to find a place to stop for the night.

"Well, if we hustle I'm pretty sure there's a rather large village ahead. Maybe we could find someplace to stay there," she replied after a few seconds of scenting the air.

"I'm sure Miroku can work his magic as a monk and find us someplace to stay," Sango shook her head at the monk who held his hands up in surrender.

"I merely offer my services…"

"To the richest people around," Sango grinned.

"As long as I get a bed, I could care less," Naruto stated before heading forwards again.

"Are all ninja so…" Sango started but couldn't find the right word.

Kakashi chuckled and fell in step with Reyna as she started after Naruto and the rest of the group, "As long as we get paid…we'll do just about anything. And in this case, we'll trade ryo for a real bed!"

**A/N: Alright and there you have it folks. Not sure it was up to my usual standard, but…I hope you enjoyed it anyway! I will try to get this updated faster now, but my muse decides to change tracks on me without notice! Anyway, reviews are greatly appreciated and feed the muse…Until we meet again**


	10. Searching

**A/N: I am so, so, so very sorry for the late updates! I am trying to keep work, horse shows and writing balanced but somehow writing keeps getting pushed away! I hope you enjoy this chapter and it's almost double the length of the previous one! Yay! **

**Okies, as always if you recognize it, I don't own it. I'm only playing in these worlds. :D**

**Now ENJOY!**

* * *

><p><strong>SEARCHING<strong>

Reyna fell back from leading the group after pointing them in the direction of the village they had decided to head for. Instead she followed sedately along behind Inuyasha and the others, falling to the back of the group with Kakashi. Despite her frustration, she attempted to hold herself in check knowing that if the rogue ninja had passed through the village the last thing their group would need was an out of control wolf to deal with. Sighing, she closed her eyes as she walked, focusing on locking away her anger and frustration in a small corner of her mind so that she could continue to think clearly and logically.

The sun was slowly sinking into the horizon, lengthening the shadows around them as twilight stole over the earth when they reached the village and Reyna quirked a brow. She had figured it would be a large village, but she hadn't expected it on the scale that she was now seeing. The last thing she had expected was someplace on the same scale as Konaha or Suna. The rest of the ninja seemed to have had similar thoughts to her as all four of them paused and shook their heads at the size of the village.

Miroku glanced back at them and paused as well, "Something the matter?"

Kakashi shook his head, "No, I don't think any of us were expecting a village quite the size though."

Miroku shrugged, "There aren't many of this size. Are there no villages this large in your world?"

Reyna nodded, "Yes, there are. All of the Shinobi Nations are large; I guess we just weren't expecting anything like this here."

"Well hurry up already! I'm hungry!" Inuyasha snapped in irritation.

"Yeah, yeah, we're coming Dog-Boy," Reyna muttered even as the five of them started into the village with Inuyasha and the others.

"Reyna-Sensei, don't you think we should be a little nicer to them since they are letting us go with them and they're explaining this world and all?" Sakura asked quietly as she walked beside Reyna.

"Yeah, Reyna-Sensei; you're always on my case about being polite and all," Naruto added and Reyna sighed.

"They both have good points, Reyna," Kakashi chuckled on her other side and she turned a glare on him as well as their teammates.

"Enough, I get it already! I'll try to play nice, alright?" she snapped and her teammates nodded.

"Well, we aren't going to have enough money to get a place to stay," Kagome sighed as the entire group paused in the street while she checked over how much they actually had.

"Well, Miroku…Go do your thing with the wealthy and get us a place to stay!" Sango informed the monk who sighed.

"Dear Sango, why is it you push me out do all the dirty work?" Miroku whined.

"Would you just go and find us a place to stay?" Inuyasha snapped at the monk who sighed.

"Well, there is a demonic aura around here. I'm sure they'd appreciate some help in ridding the village of it."

"Good, while you guys go and do that, we're going to check the place out and see what we can find out," Reyna interjected and the others turned confused gazes to her.

"We need to see if we can find any information on where those rogues headed," Kakashi explained.

"Why not do that in the morning? You won't know where we are," Kagome pointed out and Reyna wrinkled her nose.

"Trust me, I'll be able to track you anywhere in this village. We'll just head back to this spot and we'll go from there."

"Alright, but I wouldn't take too long if I were you," Sango sighed. "Any place this big tends to get a little rough after dark and I doubt you want to draw much attention to yourselves."

Kakashi nodded, "We'll just do a bit of checking around, learn the layout of the village for the most part tonight and then tomorrow we'll try to gather some information. We shouldn't be more than an hour or so."

While Inuyasha and the others headed off down one street, Kakashi's group headed in the opposite direction. The four ninja stayed close together, easily navigating the late evening crowds as they made their way through what they could only assume to be the market district of the village based on the outdoor vendors they were passing. Every couple of blocks, Reyna would scent the air to see if the scent that had been collected by the Konaha ninja was detectable amid all the other smells of the village. Sighing, each time she shook her head and the group moved on again. They slowly looped back to where they had left Kagome and the others.

"If this is getting rough, I don't think even their thugs would survive the part of Konaha where Naruto and I grew up," Reyna muttered under her breath as they passed a small group of men who eyed up the strangers closely before moving on.

"We can't even be sure that they _are_ the rough groups that Sango warned us about. Even the vendors were giving us strange looks, not that I can say that I blame them really. I can only imagine that they would draw the same looks were our roles reversed," Kakashi replied, his nose once again buried behind his book.

"Did you hear anything that might suggest we were heading in the right direction?" Sakura asked quietly as Reyna turned her attention from finding the scent of the rogue to following the scents of Miroku and the rest of the group.

She shook her head, "No, but I didn't really expect to hear much on the street. If they did pass by anywhere close I doubt that anyone would want to speak of it in the middle of the street like they were merely talking about the weather. I think we'll have better luck as far as that goes tomorrow when we have some time and we can search out travellers who may have more news than the locals."

Naruto nodded, "That makes sense. After all, most of the citizens of the Shinobi villages don't know much as far as the rumors and whatnot of our enemies and their whereabouts. It's the merchants coming in from other places that carry all those stories and the locals just don't want to hear about it; they have us to rely on."

Reyna shrugged, "Well there's that, and they have enough rumors and whatnot in their own villages to gossip about without having to worry about what's going on beyond the walls as long as it doesn't affect business."

"Especially in Konaha," Naruto muttered and Reyna chuckled.

"And Suna."

"Enough; both of you," Kakashi sighed and they both fell quiet as Reyna led them through the village.

After another few minutes of following the twisting streets, they spotted Kagome standing outside the walls of a large manor. Reyna shook her head while Naruto grinned muttering about finally being able to stay someplace stylish rather than sleeping on the ground. He bounded ahead of the two Jounin along with Sakura to where Kagome was waiting.

"Well, it looks like you guys found your way here alright!" Kagome smiled and Reyna shrugged.

"Told you I'd be able to track you guys through a bloody village," she muttered.

"Well, Miroku managed to get us a few rooms and food while we're in the village. Once we find the demon we'll be able to deal with it in exchange for our room and board. I'm not sure if you were wanting to help us out on that or not."

Kakashi shrugged and glanced over the top of his book, "We'll do what we can to pay them back for their hospitality. Tomorrow however, we would like the time to try to find some information on those rogues."

Kagome nodded as she led them through the gate and into the grounds of the manor, "That shouldn't be a problem. We have to actually find this demon before we can worry about stopping it. We can take care of that part of it."

"So do those meals start tonight?" Naruto wondered aloud and ducked as Sakura clenched a fist and glared at him. "Hey, it was only a question, Sakura!"

Kagome only laughed and nodded, "Of course they do; in fact they should be just about ready to serve the evening meal in a couple of minutes. We have our own dining room too, but there is a slight problem with the rooms."

"What's that?" Sakura asked though she was still glaring lightly at Naruto.

"Well, we don't have enough for everyone to have their own. Inuyasha, Shippo and I can all share one and Miroku and Sango claimed that they were taking one apiece. We only have two other rooms that they could spare."

"That's fine, Kakashi-Sensei and Reyna-Sensei will share one and I'm sure Sakura and I can survive sharing a room," Naruto beamed and Sakura sighed.

"I'd rather share a room with Reyna-Sensei, but he's right. We'll make it work."

Kakashi chuckled as they continued to follow Kagome through the manor to where their meal was already waiting for them, Inuyasha and Shippo were already eating while Sango and Miroku glared at the two of them.

"You could have at least waited until Lady Kagome returned," Miroku was saying as they stepped in through the sliding door and dropped down to sit around the low table.

"Che, she could have just stayed here rather than going off to make sure those damn ninja found their way here," Inuyasha snapped back after swallowing a mouthful of food.

Reyna glared while Kakashi chuckled, "It's so good to know that our companions are worried for our safety."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes as the rest of the group set to the task of eating. Most of the meal passed in silence as they ate slowly; well everyone except Kakashi ate slowly. They still couldn't fathom how he could manage to eat without any of them being able to catch a glimpse of him without his mask but somehow he managed it and was finished eating long before the rest of the group. Reyna only shook her head at him as she picked at the food on her plate.

"Did you guys find anything while you were out?" Sango finally asked and Kakashi shook his head; his two students still too busy shoveling food in their mouths to answer.

"No, we haven't been able to. We didn't really expect to hear anything tonight, but really just wanted to get a feel for the village and make a plan of where to look tomorrow," he glanced over at Reyna who was still only picking at her dinner and very subtley narrowed his eye at her.

She shrugged and glanced to the rest of the group, "With any luck, we'll be able to learn something from some travellers through the village or something."

Miroku nodded slowly, "That makes sense; at least that way we might be able to map where they've been and hopefully figure out where they might be going."

Slowly over the course of the next half hour, the entire group finished their meal and a couple of the manor's servants appeared to clear away the meal. Reyna pushed to her feet first and headed back out the door, causing several of her companions to raise concerned eyebrows at her departure and turn to her team mates for an explanation.

"Is she alright?" Shippo asked when the door slid closed beyond the Jounin.

Kakashi sighed but nodded even as Sakura spoke, "She's actually better than we thought she would be. We've all seen her frustrated when she can't figure something out and she's usually a lot more…"

"Violent," Naruto finished with a grin. "Don't get me wrong," he added hastily at the looks he was getting from their new friends. "She only ever takes it out on a tree, or maybe Kakashi-Sensei on occasion. She's not even snarling and growling like she usually does which means she's really making an effort to keep herself in check."

"Yes, she is," Kakashi added but sighed, "The only thing is that when that bottle that's holding all that back finally breaks, it's going to be nasty. The only person who's ever seen that happen has been Master Jiraiya which is why he's always on her case about finding a way to release that pent up frustration and anger; regardless of what's causing it. He always said it wasn't something that anyone should have to witness…I think it even shook him a little." Naruto raised a brow at that but didn't ask deciding he'd talk to either Kakashi or Reyna about that one later…maybe even wait until he could talk to the Pervy Sage when they got back.

"Most of the time, it's all directed at herself because she thinks that she should have been able to see something coming or be able to prevent things or something like that. This time though, it's at a lot of different things," Sakura explained.

"Well, that makes sense. This situation can't be ideal for any of you," Kagome spoke sympathetically.

"Why is she so hard on herself though?" Miroku questioned. "She's only human."

Kakashi sighed, "Half human actually but that's not really the issue. The instinct to protect is the strongest one she has. Hell, she died in order to protect Naruto so it even trumps her own survival so when she ends up in a situation where she can't protect someone or where she can't tell friend from foe because she doesn't recognize anything more than the most basic scents she gets edgy and damn near paranoid."

Sango nodded, "I know that feeling and then when you couldn't do anything to prevent a horrible incident it eats away at you and you replay it over and over, wondering what you could have done differently."

Sakura raised a brow at that, "Well that's pretty much Reyna-Sensei even if I don't know what all has happened to make her feel that way; but it sounds like yours is fairly recent."

Sango nodded, "It was, and I don't want to talk about it."

Naruto nodded, "Fair enough. You guys haven't asked us much about ourselves, so we'll return the favor."

Kakashi shook his head and slowly regained his feet, deciding that Reyna needed some company whether she agreed with that assessment or not. Leaving the rest of the group to their own discussions, he headed out the door and paused when he realized that Reyna was leaning against the wall across the hall from where they had been talking. Slowly she lifted her gaze to meet his and quirked a brow with a slight grin twitching the corners of her lips.

"Reyna, you heard all of that, didn't you?"

She nodded slowly, "I did and your right."

"I am?"

"It did shake Jiraiya-Sensei when that bottle broke. Probably because I pretty tore the guy to shreds after I nearly got Master Jiraiya killed on that mission because of my own recklessness."

Kakashi quirked a brow, "I don't know this story…"

She shook her head, keeping her voice pitched so low even Inuyasha couldn't hear them talking in the hall, "And it's not one I'm going into; that day still haunts me. It's the reason I started slowing down and thinking a situation through before throwing myself into a fight."

Reyna's gaze shifted to the door and she shifted her weight from her right leg to her left, placing the flat of her right foot behind her against the wall, hands in her pockets. Kakashi also glanced to the door, not surprised when it opened a second later and the rest of the group paused in the doorway. Reyna shot them a small smirk and Kakashi shook his head at her.

"We should get some sleep so that we can head out early tomorrow and find the information we need," Miroku cleared his throat before he spoke.

"Just point us to our rooms!" Naruto beamed easily dispersing the awkwardness of finding out that Reyna had probably heard every word when they had been discussing her with his enthusiasm.

Kagome laughed and Sango shook her head before the two girls pointed out the two rooms they had procured for the ninja. Reyna and Kakashi disappeared into one while Sakura and Naruto slipped into another all four of them glad to have something resembling a real bed again for at least a couple of nights. It wasn't long after they headed for their own rooms that Inuyasha and the others also headed in for some much needed sleep. Despite the comfortable accomodations, Reyna found she still couldn't sleep well though she did manage to finally catch a few hours before Kakashi was nudging her shoulder to wake her the next morning.

The entire group gathered again for breakfast the next morning and conversation was kept to a minimum. Once they had finished eating the two groups once again headed out their separate ways; Inuyasha and his group headed out to find the source of the demonic aura that several of them could sense while the Leaf ninja headed back into the heart of the village in search of information with Shippo in tow. They had agreed to take the young fox with them since they figured that their own search would be far less dangerous.

Inuyasha lead his group out through the back gardens of the manor and finally through the back gate. Beyond the gate was a heavily wooded area and that was where they were sensing the strongest essence of the demonic aura. Kagome followed along half a step behind him, fingering the feathering on one of her arrows absently. Behind her both Sango and Miroku were intently searching the trees on either side of the group, looking for anything that would lead them in the right direction. They spent the vast majority of the morning fighting through the overgrown underbrush that had taken over what had probably been a well-used path at some point in time and paused in a small clearing to eat the small lunch they had packed for the day. Once they had finished eating, they braved the underbrush again, still following the sense of the demon, but they had yet to see any physical sign of it's presence. Still, they knew it had to be around there somewhere.

Back in the village that morning, the group of Leaf ninja once again stayed close together as they traversed the streets with Naruto doing his best to keep Shippo entertained and feeling like he hadn't been left behind by the others. Reyna caught bits and pieces of the random stories that Naruto was telling and shook her head slightly, though she knew that Naruto was also keeping his senses on what they were there to find. Kakashi had his nose buried in his book, but again she knew better than to be fooled by that. He'd probably spotted things that she had overlooked or missed. Sakura was the first to break away from the group around mid morning when she spotted a merchant selling healing herbs.

While Sakura was talking medicinal properties with the elderly lady selling the dried herbs, Reyna glanced over her shoulder at Naruto and Shippo who both seemed to be barely containing themselves near a food stand.

"Kakashi, this isn't working," she finally muttered and Kakashi lifted his gaze from his book with a sigh.

"You're right. We'd do better to split up for a while and meet back up at lunch."

"Naruto, Sakura!" Reyna called their teammates over and once they were out of the way of the busy market goers, she spoke again. "We're not going to get anywhere like this. We each have a specialty that we're going to be able to use to get our information. Why don't we split up and see what we can find out? Sakura; talk to those selling the herbs and the healers see if they've run across any unusual wounds or anything that may point to our guys. Naruto…well you just talk to everyone anyway, so see what you can uncover, but be careful about how you pose your questions. Just say you've heard rumors and were wondering if there was anything to them. I'm going to go for the four legged and fuzzy approach, see if I can hear things that people aren't willing to discuss with outsiders. Kakashi…well…I'm not even going to try to figure out what you're going to do, but I have a feeling you already have a plan."

Kakashi smiled under his mask and nodded and a second later, the five of them had split up deciding to meet back at the manor at lunch to share information; if they had managed to get any. Shippo remained with Naruto while Sakura returned to the lady selling the herbs to continue their previous discussion and see what she could learn. Kakashi wandered off down the street, nose back in his book and Reyna shook her head at him before finding a secluded spot and drawing the shadows around her while she shifted. She glanced back at her coat and sighed; she was too clean to be a stray. Growling to herself, she eased to the ground in the dirtiest place she could find and rolled until she could pass for a stray dog. Once that was accomplished, she trotted off down the street looking for the first of her chosen spots to check out.

Reyna was the first back at the manor and was also back to her two legged self though she was coated in a layer of dust and grim. She glared at her now dirty clothes and sighed; it was a good thing she had managed to smell out a creek not far from the village so she could wash out all that dust and had a few extra changes of clothes sealed in a scroll in her pack. Naruto and Shippo arrived not long after she did.

"Wow, Reyna-Sensei! What did you do?" Naruto exclaimed and Shippo laughed.

"You look like you just went for a mud bath!"

Reyna glared at both of them, "I was too clean to pass as a stray."

Naruto laughed at that but kept a good distance from his teammate, not wanting to get tackled and end up just as dirty as she was. She'd done that in the past and he was pretty sure if he didn't keep his guard up, she would do it all over again. He was still trying to suppress his laughter when Sakura strolled up, a small bundle under her arm and she also passed a surprised look over at Reyna who sighed.

"Looks like you decided you were just staying far too clean on this mission," Kakashi's chuckle behind her from the top of the fence enclosing the manor alerted them that he had also finished his rounds for the morning.

"Keep it up, you perverted hedgehog and you won't be able to find a single one of those books for the remainder of the time we're in this world," she growled in return, glancing up at him before he dropped lithely to the ground beside her still chuckling.

"Not another word," he promised and she sighed.

"Alright, so how did we do information wise?"

"Well, Shippo and I heard a great deal of rumors about people with extraordinary powers that have been wreaking terror in villages to the southwest, but there wasn't anything substantial to say that we should head that direction or even what direction these people were heading in. It did sound like our rogues though," Naruto started and Shippo nodded.

"Can you guys really walk on water?" the fox asked. "Naruto said you could, but I'm not sure how much to believe that he tells me."

Sakura laughed at that but nodded, "We really can Shippo. It takes a lot of concentration at first and it takes a lot of practice but it's second nature after that. As for how much to believe…I've never known Naruto to out and out lie, but he may exeraggerate just a little."

Naruto chuckled and scratched the back of his neck, "Heh…maybe just a little."

Reyna shook her head, though there was a bit of smile tugging on her lips, "Sakura, what about you?"

Sakura grinned, "I got a ton of information about strange poisons and wounds that the healers haven't seen. There was even a healer from another village west of here that was looking for herbs that may slow the spread of a strange poison. It definitely sounds like something that we'd use on senbon or kunai, but without seeing it for myself; I can't say for sure. Aside from that, there was a hunter that came into town a few weeks ago with strange weapons embedded in his leg and shoulder." She pulled the package from under her arm and untied the rope holding the cloth shut. "I convinced the healer to let me take these, telling her that I could analyze them back in my own village. She seemed to buy it."

She pulled out several kunai and senbon and looked back up at the group, "These are definitely ninja. From what I could gather from the healers that I talked to, they seem to be heading west of this village now."

Kakashi nodded, "That's pretty much what I managed to gather as well. They're heading west and definitely the men we're looking for. Now if we knew what it was that they're looking for it would be even better."

Reyna sighed and nodded, "That's pretty much what I found out too, but there were definitely more sinister whispers around the village than what you guys found out. They seem to trying to make a name for themselves based on how much of a reputation they can create. If we follow their path we're going to run into trouble as soon as anyone catches sight of our headbands. There were even a few whispers today about _us_. The people that have heard the stories or witnessed the rogues in action are terrified that we're a part of that group and are just checking out where to hit next. And from the sounds of it, there's more than just the four that Inuyasha's brother told us about. It sounds more like six or eight, but then that could be an exaggeration as well, I don't know for sure. I can't tell if someone's lying about the number when they're only repeating what they heard." She sighed. "We're going to have more trouble than we can deal with I think."

The others nodded slowly before Kakashi finally spoke again, "We use the utmost caution and stay together. This is going to spill over onto Inuyasha and the others too, unfortunately. We need to tell them what they're getting themselves into."

Reyna nodded, "Agreed, but do we have enough information to proceed?

Naruto and Sakura both nodded but Kakashi thought about it for a few seconds longer before he agreed with his younger teammates, "I believe we have enough to continue to track them. We know what direction they're heading in and a rough number on them. Any time we have to run on rumors and heresay we take a huge risk in proceding. Did anyone get any clear information on their abilities? Do any of them have any kind of Kekkai Genkai?"

Naruto and Sakura shrugged and Sakura spoke, "They only have the most basic knowledge on the use and creation of poisons though. With Kagome's help I'm pretty sure I can create any antidote we may end up needing."

Kakashi nodded and looked to Reyna who was running through what she'd heard that morning, sifting through the information; finally she spoke again, "I can't say for sure. To listen to anyone here an Academy student would seem god-like. I couldn't say one way or another if they have anything special to worry about or not. We may be able to gather that kind of information in the villages they've attacked though; assuming we can convince anyone that we're the good guys and no…it would not be in their best interest to kill us on sight."

Sakura sighed, "Reyna-Sensei, you have the most uncanny ability to make a dire situation seem even more dire than it already is."

"Thank you…"

"I don't think that was a compliment," Shippo pointed out.

"Alright, we need to talk to Inuyasha and the others so they know what they're getting into travelling with us," Kakashi broke in fighting to keep the amusement from his voice.

"I can catch up to them no problem if you want," Reyna suggested and Kakashi nodded.

"We'll be here, talking strategies."

Reyna nodded and a second later a very ragged and dirty caramel colored wolf stood in Reyna's place before she bolted into the trees as hard as she could run, her nose in the air to catch the faint whiff of the scents she was looking for. Once located, she darted through the underbrush. She met them as they were heading back to the manor, having made as big of a loop as they could before they had to head back to the village to meet up with the ninja.

"I can't believe we didn't find a damn thing!" Inuyasha snarled just before a caramel wolf leapt from the trees and shifted to a slightly smirking Reyna.

"Did you ever think that it was because you're so damn loud it heard you coming and simply stayed ahead of you?" she asked, one hand on her hip.

"Shut the hell up! I don't see you out here, fighting through this overgrown damn forest trying to find a damn demon!"

"This forest feels…off," Miroku muttered and Reyna paused before nodding her agreement.

"Yeah, it does. I may not be familiar with the normal scents in your trees and forests, but this one smells…wrong," she muttered, brows drawing together as she contemplated that. "Did the feeling of this 'aura' change the further in you got?"

Sango shook her head, "No, it's like it was always just…there. Never getting closer nor drifting away."

"I assume that's odd?"

"Very much so," Miroku nodded.

"Then maybe the demon has something to do with this forest and the forest itself is protecting the demon."

The rest of the group paused at her words and Kagome smiled, "That does make sense. It explains why we kept changing direction to try to find the source!"

"Alright, well now that we have that cleared up; we need to talk…all of us. The rest are back at the manor."

They all nodded and headed back towards the manor as quickly as the thick underbrush would let them. If Reyna didn't know any better, and she really didn't, she would have sworn it was growing thicker to inhibit their movements. She shook the thought from her head as she led the way back towards the manor. Finally the building came into view and they all found that they were grateful to be clear of the confines of the trees. Reyna had spent a good part of her life in the trees and had never felt imprisoned in their confines but that was the only way she could describe the feeling she'd had the entire time she had been in that forest.

They found Kakashi and the others in the dining room they took their meals in and immediately dropped to sit around the table to discuss everything they had learned.

Kakashi started, "We have to tell you flat out that if you travel with us after the rogues there is a good chance that the villagers will think that you, as well as us, are in league with them. At home, the symbol on the headband of a ninja tells everyone what village you're from. A strike through the symbol means you are a 'missing nin' or a rogue who turned against the Shinobi nation. Here, we don't have that distinction which means that as soon as anyone sees our headbands, they may react with hostility and violence."

"I know most of those villages so I may be able to keep tempers and paranoia down," Miroku volunteered and the ninja nodded.

"Be that as it may," Reyna replied, "This could turn very bad for all us very quickly. And that's not even to start on what we could be facing when we finally find them."

The others only nodded, "We understand that, but if you're willing to risk your own necks to face demons that you have no idea how to deal with, then we'll do the same thing for you," Sango was the one who spoke but even Inuyasha was agreeing with her words.

"Alright, now what do we know about the demon that we have to deal with here?" Kakashi asked.

"Not much…its connected to the forest behind the manor though we just don't know how or what we're facing," Miroku supplied.

"I wonder how this essence in the forest would react to Naruto entering…" Reyna muttered to herself but Inuyasha heard her.

"What? Why would Naruto have any affect on anything? You're a ninja too and you're presence didn't do anything!"

"Its…complicated," Kakashi offered and sighed. "It's not important at the moment. Reyna it's not just that Naruto may have an effect on the forest, but what if this presence affected HIM?"

"I was still puzzling on it!" Reyna defended but sighed and slumped in her seat. "You're right. It's not a risk we can take."

"Hey, we're kind of outta the loop here," Kagome pointed out and the ninja all looked to Naruto.

"You're call, Naruto," Kakashi spoke softly as the blonde cast his blue eyes down and stared at the floor for a minute.

"Alright…I'll tell you guys…with one promise," he glanced up.

"What?" Sango asked.

"You don't attack me. You can hate me, I'm really used to that, but…don't make us fight you," he sighed.

"Why would we want to fight you?" Miroku asked severely confused now.

Over the next few minutes Naruto explained everything about himself and how he had the Nine Tails sealed within himself. He left out the part where it had been his own father who had sacrificed him however. Finally he finished his story and silence fell over the room.

"So, the leader of your village sacrificed a newborn child?" Kagome finally exploded with a shake of her head.

"No, he sacrificed himself to save the village; he wanted me to be a hero by containing the Nine Tails' chakra within myself. The problem was that everyone thought that I had become the Nine Tails or that I would. Do I lose control on it? Sometimes, but I've also pulled it back under my control…or Yamato-Sensei has which is why it would be a problem if this essence affected me rather than the other way around. As far as I know, Yamato-Sensei is the only one who can help me hold it together."

"The entire village saw you that way?" Shippo asked quietly and Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, but I made friends! And I helped Gaara realize that there was something that was worth fighting for other than yourself that would make you truly strong! I could have gone down the same path that he was on when we first met, but all I wanted was for someone to be my friend and to be recognized. Iruka-Sensei was the first one to believe in me along with the Old Man, Sarutobi…then Kakashi-Sensei and Sakura and Sasuke, then Reyna-Sensei though I guess you always did, I just didn't know it," he grinned at Reyna who smirked back and nodded. "But it was Pervy Sage who really helped me!"

"Pervy Sage?" Sango asked.

"He means Master Jiraiya," Reyna chuckled.

"So you were both taught by the same person?" Miroku this time.

"Yeah, but not at the same time; I started training with Pervy Sage during my first Chuunin Exam and Reyna was already a Jounin by then," Naruto grinned.

"Alright I can kind of understand why you'd be worried that we'd attack you, based on what you said about the attack the Nine Tails made on your village when the Fourth sealed it in you, but are you forgetting that we travel with Inuyasha and Shippo? Shippo's a fox demon and Inuyasha half demon," Kagome said softly and Naruto shrugged.

"Guess I'm just used to the way I'm usually treated; now we need to find a way to find this demon that's tormenting this manor!"

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><p><strong>AN: Okay! I finally, finally, finally got this bloody thing finished!**

**I hope you all liked it and I hope to update a lot faster as long as I can balance writing and work and horse shows!**

**Thanks again to all my readers and reviewers!**

**Special Thanks to Jerrie for letting me annoy you with my randomness and helping me out with ideas on all my stories!**

**Now I am off to try to get something done on my other stories! My muse really loves reviews for her feed, so click below and keep her in treats!**


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